OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


THE    STORY   OF 


AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA. 


BY 

MRS.    ADA   C.    CHAPLIN, 

AUTHOR  OF  "CHRIST'S  CADETS,"   "CHARITY  HURLBURT,"  ETC. 


"There  is  a  gold-mine  in  India;  but  it  seems  almost  as 
deep  as  the  centre  of  the  earth.  Who  will  venture  to  ex- 
plore it?" —  ANDREW  FULLER. 

"  I  will  go  down ;  but  remember  that  you  must  hold  the 
ropes." — WILLIAM  CAREY. 


MISSION   ROOMS,   BOSTON: 
W.    G.    GORTHELL,    PUBLISHER.. 

1877. 


COPYRIGHT,  1877, 
BY  W.  G.  CORTHELL. 


Stereotyped  and  Printed  by 

Rand,  Avery,  and  Company, 

1IJ  Franklin  Street, 

JBesttm. 


PREFACE. 


To  THE  MEMBERS  OF  MY  OWN  BIBLE-CLASS  AND  OF 
OTHER  BIBLE-CLASSES  :  — 

I  HAVE  written  this  book  -for  you ;  not  for  those  who 
have  lived  through,  and  helped  make,  the  history  it 
records,  for  they  do  not  need  it ;  not  for  those  who 
feel  no  interest  in  the  work  it  describes,  for  they  will 
not  read  it ;  but  for  you,  all  of  whom,  I  think,  feel 
some  interest  in  the  great  conflict  waging  between  the 
kingdoms  of  good  and  evil  for  the  possession  of  our 
world. 

If  it  shall  make  more  real  to  any  one  of  you  that 
part  of  the  battle-ground  which  lies  beyond  our  imme- 
ate  vision,  if  it  shall  awaken  in  any  heart  a  thought  of 
earnest  sympathy  for  our  brethren  of  other  races,  if  it 
shall  make  any  faltering  step  steady  and  true  for  the 
Master,  I  shall  not  regret  having  written  it. 

Should  this  little  work  be  read  by  any  already  at  all 


4  PREFACE. 

familiar  with  its  subject,  I  know  it  will  be  with  a  sense 
of  disappointment  at  the  slight  notice  given  to  many 
names  familiar  and  dear  to  them,  and  to  departments 
of  the  work  in  which  they  are  especially  interested. 
In  view  of  the  small  compass  of  the  book,  the  neces- 
sity for  explaining  many  things  to  those  unfamiliar 
with  its  subject,  and  its  aim  to  be  a  record  of  the 
work  rather  than  a  biography  of  workers,  this  disap- 
pointment was  inevitable.  It  is  fully  shared  by  the 
author. 

If,  in  becoming  more  intimately  acquainted  with 
them  than  in  any  other  way  would  have  been  possible, 
I  was  at  first  startled  by  the  discovery  that  missiona- 
ries, heathen,  and  ourselves  were  made  of  the  same 
original  material,  I  can  nevertheless  say,  that  day  by 
day,  as  I  have  studied  the  lives  of  those  who  are  doing 
our  work  in  foreign  lands,  my  reverence  for  them  has 
increased,  and  for  none  more  than  for  those  whose 
names  are  hardly  mentioned  in  these  pages,  but  whose 
work,  though  more  hidden  from  our  sight  than  that  of 
others,  fills  not  less  space  in  the  record-book  of 
heaven. 

A.  C.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THE  DARKNESS  BEFORE  THE  DAWN         .       .      7 
II.    BRAHMANISM  AND  ITS  ADVERSARIES         .       .    30 

III.  THE  FIRST  MISSIONARIES 43 

IV.  JUDSON   AND   BURMAH 63 

'  V.  THE  FIRST  BURMAN  CHRISTIANS      .       .       .81 

VI.  IN  PRISON 106 

VII.  THE  WILD  MEN 122 

VIII.  JUNGLE  AND  CITY 138 

IX.  SHADOW  AND  SUNLIGHT 177 

X.  NEW  FIELDS.  —  TOUNGOO,  SHWAYGYEEN,  HEN- 

THADA 195 

XI.  RENEWED  FIELDS. — RANGOON,  BASSEIN,PROME,  226 

XII.  TAVOY,  MAULMAIN,  AND  THE  SHANS       .       .  259 

XIII.  ASSAM.  —  BRAHMANISM  AGAIN    ....  293 

XIV.  THE  TELUGUS .337 

XV.  TO-DAY 372 

5 


OUR  GOLD-MINE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    DARKNESS    BEFORE   THE    DAWN. 

WISH  I  was  in  China!" 
"  So  do  I !  " 

The  door  closed  with  a  slam  after  the 
last  speaker,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  and  then  opened 
again  of  its  own  accord,  as  doors  are  wont  to  do 
when  school-boys  close  them. 

"Then  you'd  be  a  mithunary,  Katie,"  lisped  a 
little  four-year-old,  who  sat  on  the  floor,  drawing 
all  sorts  of  ungeometrical  figures  with  a  bit  of 
charcoal  carelessly  dropped  there. 

"  I  think  I  could  be  thankful  that  I'm  not  one 
of  the  '  poor  heathen,'  in  that  case,"  responded 
Walter  Bancroft,  closing  the  door  again,  and  this 
time  firmly. 

7 


8  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

Katie's  cheeks  flushed.  She  wiped  the  last 
plate  vigorously,  and  put  it  with  its  fellows  on 
the  table.  Then  she  let  the  wiping-cloth  hang 
loosely  on  her  arm,  and  turned  toward  the  win- 
dow, looking  not  through  it,  but  out  of  .another 
window,  that  opened  into  her  own  future ;  and 
there  she  saw  only  a  long  vista  of  unwashed 
plates,  pots  and  kettles,  unswept  floors,  and 
ragged  garments,  all  looking  to  her  to  be  put 
in  order.  She  had  taken  this  same  view  often  ; 
but  that  did  not  make  it  more  pleasant.  Life 
looked  very  long  to  Katie  at  fifteen. 

"This  is  too  bad,  Katie,  standing  by  the 
window  with  your  dish-pan  not  washed,  your 
dishes  not  set  away,  and  little  Minnie  covering 
herself  with  charcoal."  The  words  were  spoken 
in  a  low,  gentle  voice,  by  a  very  sweet-looking 
young  lady ;  but  they  brought  to  Katie  Marsh- 
field's  cheeks  the  same  hot  flush  that  had  died 
away  with  Walter's  last  retreating  footstep. 

Katie  bit  her  lips,  washed  the  pan,  set  away 
the  dishes  rapidly,  then  leaned  her  head  upon 
the  table,  and  burst  into  tears. 

Katie  Marshfield  was  a  minister's  daughter. 
She  understood  a  little  music,  a  little  drawing, 
a  little  mathematics,  a  good  deal  of  embroidery 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  9 

and  crochet-work  (of  all  of  which  she  was  fond), 
and  a  little  housework  (of  which  she  was  decid- 
edly not  fond).  Shall  we  say,  too,  that  she  un- 
derstood a  little  .  of  religion,  or  rather,  that,  with 
a  heart  warm  with  love  for  Christ,  she  failed  to 
see  that  this,  as  well  as  all  our*  other  mind  and 
soul  treasures,  was  designed  not  merely  for  en- 
joyment, but  for  use  ?  She  had  many  dreams 
of  doing  and  suffering  great  things  for  Christ ; 
but  it  had  never  come  into  her  mind  to  do  and 
suffer  little  things  for  his  sake.  And  so,  while 
her  religion  sustained  her  most  beautifully  in 
the  dark*  hour  of  her  father's  death,  it  seemed 
not  to  help  her  greatly  in  washing  dishes,  and 
sweeping  floors,  and  taking  care  of  little  Minnie, 
which  was  her  main  work  in  the  family,  where, 
for  the  three  weeks  since  the  funeral,  her  lot 
had  been  cast. 

Ida  Southworth,  Mrs.  Bancroft's  sister,  was  so 
very  quiet,  so  very  practical,  so  abundant  in 
every  virtue  that  Katie  lacked,  that  she  liked 
her  even  less  than  she  did  the  impulsive  Walter, 
who  was  very  much  what  Katie  herself  would 
have  been,  if  she  had  been  a  boy,  and  had  not 
been  a  Christian,  and  who,  for  three  weeks,  had 
been  the  chief  torment  of  her  life.  Mrs.  Ban- 


10  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

croft  everybody  loved.  Walter's  cousin  Charles, 
who  professed  to  live  in  the  next  house,  but 
really  took  his  meals  there,  and  lived  wherever 
Walter  was,  was  one  of  the  boys  who,  taking 
color  readily  from  their  surroundings,  are  rarely 
found  fault  with.  Little  Minnie,  and  Edith, 
three  years  older,  were  Katie's  idols ;  and  these 
few  people  were  all  of  the  great  world  with 
which  she  had  much  to  do,  except  in  day- 
dreams. 

"  Oh,  I  wish  I  was  a  missionary ! "  she  ex- 
claimed ;  and  her  tears  flowed  afresh.  It  was 
not  the  first  time  she  had  said  this.  The  long- 
ing came  to  her  often,  and  'always  filled  her  with 
contempt  for  the  seemingly  insignificant  duties 
that  lay  around  her.  She  had  no  idea  that  the 
larger  part  of  the  missionary's  work  lay  also  in 
little  things.  To  her  imagination  it  was  some- 
thing wholly  great  and  glorious.  Now,  as  her 
mind  rested  upon  it,  her  tears  dried  away ;  so 
that,  when  Mrs.  Bancroft  entered  the  room,  she 
was  only  thinking. 

"  What  are  you  thinking  of,  Katie  ?  "  The 
words  were  in  a  tone  of  inquiry,  not  of  reproof, 
though  Minnie  was  still  on  the  floor,  uncon- 
sciously transferring  to  her  dress  the  charcoal 
diagrams  she  had  been  drawing. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  II 

"  Of  being  a  missionary  some  time,"  Katie 
answered  truthfully. 

"  If  you  would  like  to  fit  yourself  for  that 
work,  I  will  give  you  all  the  help  I  can ;  but  take 
care  of  Minnie  now." 

Katie  took  off  the  soiled  garments,  washed 
the  little  black  hands,  thinking  meanwhile  of 
other  hands,  many  miles  away,  from  which  the 
black  could  never  wash  off,  and  of  souls  darker 
than  the  bodies  that  cover  them,  that  might  be 
cleansed  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  "  That  would 
be  real  work,  something  worth  living  for,"  she 
thought,  as  she  led  the  now  presentable  little 
Minnie  into  the  sitting-room. 

"  How  would  you  like  to  take  the  missionaries 
as  the  subject  for  our  evenings  this  winter, 
Katie  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  Bancroft. 

"  I  should  like  it  above  all  things,"  Katie  ex- 
claimed enthusiastically. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  something  a  little  more 
practical  would  be  better  just  now,"  said  Ida  as 
Katie  left  the  room.  "  That  child  has  no  idea 
of  the  duties  of  her  present  situation  ;  and  I 
think  there  is  real  danger  in  talking  with  her 
about  these  things,  that  will  only  encourage  her 
dreamy,  unsettled  disposition,  and  unfit  her  for 
any  real  work  in  life." 


12  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  Perhaps  so,"  answered  Mrs.  Bancroft,  two 
words  which  are  usually  effective  in  shutting 
off  further  discussion  ;  and  so  the  subject  was 
dropped  till  all  were  gathered  around  the  even- 
ing lamp. 

"  Well,  mother,  what  next  ?  We've  done  up 
the  Romans  and  the  Reformation,"  said  Walter, 
alluding  to  previous  evening  talks. 

"  We  are  going  to  talk  about  the  heathen 
and  the  missionaries,"  said  Katie  a  little  tri- 
umphantly. 

"  The  heathen  are  well  enough ;  but  I  detest 
the  missionaries,"  answered  Walter,  as  usual 
saying  something  a  good  deal  worse  than  he 
meant. 

"  I  don't."  Kate  would  probably  have  an- 
swered any  other  remark  of  Walter's  with  "  I 
don't,"  she  was  so  much  in  the  habit  of  it ;  but 
she  was  in  earnest  this  time. 

"  You  wouldn't  say  that,  if  you  knew,  Wal- 
ter," interposed  Charlie.  "Why,  it's  just  like  a 
fairy-tale,  some  of  it." 

"Well,  I  hate  fairy-tales." 

"  But  how  they  get  into  tigers'  dens,  you 
know,  and  how  the  alligators  catch  them, —  I 
say  it's  interesting." 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  13 

"  But  the  alligators  don't  catch  most  of  them, 
unfortunately ;  and  those  that  are  left  are  real 
stupid." 

"  How  much  do  you  know  about  them  ? " 
asked  Mrs.  Bancroft  quietly. 

"  Nothing,  except  that  they  have  dark  com- 
plexions, and  wear  spectacles.  I  saw  one  of 
them  on  a  platform  once,  but  did  not  stay  to 
hear  him  speak." 

Walter  joined  in  the  laugh  that  followed  this 
frank  confession  ;  and  Mrs.  Bancroft  began  her 
story,  promising,  however,  that  she  would  only 
tell  about  the  heathen  this  time,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries should  wait  till  they  were  called  for. 

"  More  than  three  thousand  years  ago,  while 
Samson  was  catching  foxes  and  telling  riddles 
in  Palestine,  or  perhaps  still  farther  back,  while 
Moses  was  writing  his  wonderful  songs  and 
telling  the  story  of  the  world's  creation,  there 
were  hymn-writers  in  India.  Nothing  is  left  of 
them  now  but  their  names,  their  language,  and 
their  hymns  ;  but  from  these  we  can  learn  a 
great  deal  about  the  people  themselves,  and 
something  about  their  ancestors  and  ours  a 
great  deal  farther  back." 

"  And  ours,  mother  ? "  exclaimed  Walter. 


14  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  Yes ;  for  their  ancestors  were  ours  too  ;  and 
these  people,  whose  story  you  shall  hear,  are  our 
distant  cousins. 

"In  that  very  early  time,  when  bears  and 
deer  and  squirrels  ran  at  large  in  the  forests 
that  grew  where  London  and  New  York  are 
now,  our  Eastern  cousins  had  ploughs  and  carts, 
and  oxen  to  draw  them,  and  roads  and  inns  for 
travellers.  They  used  gold  money,  and  gambled 
for  it,  and  spent  it  in  getting  drunk,  very  much 
like  some  of  their  distant  relatives  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.  They  had  temperance  writers 
too,  and  men  who  abhorred  gambling.  Trade, 
dress,  jewels,  and  fast  horses,  had  each  their  dev- 
otees among  these  far-away  cousins,  as  among 
us.  They  had  figures  too ;  and  no  doubt  their 
merchants  kept  accounts." 

"  Did  they  have  slates  and  slate-pencils,  and 
go  to  school  ?  "  asked  Edith. 

"That  is  more  than  I  can  tell  you.  More 
likely  they  ciphered  on  palm-leaves." 

"  But  how  do  you  know  what  you  have  told  ? 
I  shouldn't  think  their  hymns  would  be  about 
such  things,"  asked  the  incredulous  Walter. 

"  Suppose,  three  thousand  years  from  now, 
every  book  in  our  language  were  blotted  out, 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  15 

except  our  hymn-books.  Suppose  that  then 
some  refined  and  educated  Fijian  or  Esquimau 
should  read  such  hymns  as  this  :  — 

'  Had  I  the  tongues  of  Greeks  and  Jews, 
And  nobler  speech  than  angels  use, 
If  love  be  wanting,  I  am  found, 
Like  tinkling  brass,  an  empty  sound.' 

Or  this  :  — 

'The  children  are  gathering  from  near  and  from  far: 
The  trumpet  is  sounding  the  call  to  the  war.' 

From  these  two  stanzas  of  two  hymns,  our 
Esquimau  investigator  could  learn  that  the 
Americans  of  the  nineteenth  century  studied, 
foreign  languages,  knew  something  of  ancient 
history,  of  the  use  of  metals,  of  war,  and  of 
musical  instruments.  Even  the  '  golden  here- 
after '  might  be  good  for  something  then,  in 
showing  him  that  we  lived  in  frame-houses  built 
with  '  rafters.'  Now,  if  these  few  lines  could 
tell  him  so  much,  you  will  easily  see,  that,  with 
the  whole  hymn-book,  he  could  learn  how  we 
live,  what  we  are,  and  what  we  do,  pretty  thor- 
oughly. In  the  same  way,  we  learn  what  the 
East-Indians  of  Samson's  time  did  and  thought 
and  were." 


1 6  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"But  where  were  we  then,  —  the  English,  I 
mean  ?  "  asked  Charlie. 

"  I  cannot  tell ;  living  in  caves,  and  roasting 
each  other  for  dinner  in  earth  furnaces,  perhaps, 
if  the  stories  of  some  of  our  modern  geologists 
are  true." 

"  But  what  has  made  the  difference  ?  "  asked 
Walter. 

"  I  cannot  answer  that  question  without  tell- 
ing you  something  about  the  missionaries  ;  and 
I  promised  not  to  do  that  to-night.  I  certainly 
cannot  say,  that  if  Christ  had  not  sent  out 
twelve  missionaries  with  the  command,  '  Teach 
all  nations,'  I  should  to-night  have  been  eating 
you,  instead  of  talking  to  you.  Probably  I 
should  not :  for  when  Caesar  invaded  England, 
more  than  fifty  years  before  Christ  was  born, 
its  people  reserved  all  that  kind  of  diet  for  their 
daintier  gods  ;  and  even  they  were  treated  to  a 
delicate  young  man  or  woman  only  on  special 
occasions,  and  were  expected  to  give  full  har- 
vests, rain,  or  great  victories,  in  return.  Except 
on  the  coast,  the  people  wore  little  clothing,  and 
threw  off  that  little  when  they  went  to  battle, 
showing  to  their  Roman  invaders  their  naked 
bodies,  tattooed  and  painted  in  what  was  the 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  17 

very  height  of  London  fashion  two  thousand 
years  ago.  The  citizens  of  the  country  that 
now  rules  the  wave  paddled  about  in  skin-boats  ; 
and,  when  our  Eastern  cousins  had  finished  the 
hymns  of  the  Vedas,  the  ancestors  of  Shak- 
speare  and  Milton  had  not  even  a  written  lan- 
guage. But  it  was  not  of  English  heathen  that 
I  meant  to  tell  you.  Most  of  the  hymns  of 
these  early  Hindoos,  like  most  of  ours,  were 
prayers  ;  and  here,  I  think,  is  what  is  best  of  all, 
that,  in  reading  them,  we  cannot  help  feeling 
that  some  of  their  authors  worshipped  the  same 
God  that  we  do,  though  calling  him,  as  we  do, 
by  various  names.  Let  me  give  you  a  speci- 
men of  some  of  these  best  hymns  :  — 

'  i.  Let  me  not  yet,  O  Varuna !  enter  into  the  house  of 
clay  :  have  mercy,  Almighty ;  have  mercy. 

'2.  If  I  go  along  trembling,  like  a  cloud  driven  by  the 
wind,  have  mercy,  Almighty  ;  have  mercy. 

'  3.  Through  want  of  strength,  thou  strong  and  bright 
God,  have  I  gone  wrong :  have  mercy,  Almighty ;  have 
mercy. 

'  4.  Whenever  we  men,  O  Varuna !  commit  an  offence 
before  the  heavenly  host,  whenever  we  break  the  law 
through  thoughtlessness,  punish  us  not,  O  God !  for  that 
offence.' 

"  In  another,  Varuna  is  described  as  — 


i8  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

'He  who  knows  the  place  of  the  birds  that  fly  through 
the  sky,  who  on  the  waters  knows  the  ships  ; 

'  He  who  knows  the  track  of  the  wind,  of  the  wide,  the 
bright,  the  mighty,  and  knows  those  who  reside  on  high  ; 

'  The  God  whom  the  scoffers  do  not  provoke,  nor  the 
tormentors  of  men,  nor  the  plotters  of  mischief.' 

"  Again  they  say  that  he  '  perceives  all  won- 
drous things,  and  sees  what  has  been  and  what 
will  be  done  ; '  and  one  of  these  poets  speaks 
distinctly  of  the  oneness  of  God.  '  They  call 
him  Indra,  Mitra,  Vartma,  Agni :  that  which  is 
One,  the  wise  call  him  in  divers  manners.' 

"  You  must  not  think  that  most  even  of  the 
Rishis,  these  poets  of  whom  I  have  been  telling 
you,  were  worshippers  of  the  true  God.  Among 
their  hymns  there  are  prayers  to  the  sun,  the 
dawn,  the  sky,  the  fire,  and  many  others  of  the 
things  that  lead  our  thoughts  away  beyond 
themselves  to  God.  How  many  of  them  stopped 
with  the  outward  objects,  how  many  looked 
through  them  to  Him  who  made  them,  how  far 
their  immediate  ancestors  held  a  still  purer 
faith,  no  one  can  tell.  As  I  said,  I  have  given 
you  some  of  the  best.  Many  of  the  hymns  of 
the  Veda  are  weak  and  childish. 

"  A  few  centuries  passed  by.    The  old  form  of 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  19 

Sanscrit,  in  which  the  Vedas  were  written,  had 
become  as  puzzling  to  the  people  of  India  as  the 
old  English  I  showed  you  last  week  was  to  you. 
Few  could  read,  and  fewer  understand,  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Rishis.  Then  those  who  understood 
them,  or  thought  they  did,  wrote  commentaries 
upon  them :  these  are  the  Brahmanas.  In  a 
few  centuries  more,  the  Brahmanas  had  shared 
the  fate  of  the  poems,  and  other  commentaries 
were  written  upon  them :  these  are  the  Sutras. 
These  old  hymns,  with  the  commentaries  upon 
them,  and  the  commentaries  upon  those  com- 
mentaries, are  called  the  Rig  Veda ;  but  properly 
the  name  belongs  only  to  the  hymns.  Besides 
it,  and  in  great  part  made  from  it,  are  three  other 
Vedas  of  far  more  modern  date." 

"  And  are  these  what  they  call  the  Shaster  ? " 
asked  Walter. 

"  In  part.  But,  besides,  there  are^the  Rama- 
yana  and  the  Mahabarata,  ancient  epic  poems  ; 
the  Upanishads,  theological  treatises  ;  the  Laws 
of  Manu,  treating  of  almost  every  thing  ;  the 
Puranas,  a  huge  compendium  of  modern  Hindoo- 
ism,  which  probably  had  not  reached  its  growth 
at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  "  — 

"  That'll  do,  mother." 


20  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  But,  before  nearly  all  these  had  been  writ- 
ten, there  had  been  a  great  change  among  the 
countrymen  of  the  Rishis.  I  suppose,  like 
most  great  changes,  it  came  so  slowly,  that  no- 
body knew  any  thing  was  happening  until  the 
work  was  done.  That  change  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  caste. 

"  If  you  were  to  go  to  India  to-day,  you  would 
find  soldiers  who  would  throw  away  their  din- 
ner if  but  the  shadow  of  one  of  their  highest 
English  officers  fell  upon  it ;  because  they,  the 
soldiers,  are  of  high  caste,  while  the  English- 
men are  of  no  caste  at  all.  You  would  find 
mothers  having  no  quarrel  with  any  of  their 
neighbors,  who  yet,  if  a  daughter  should  marry 
one  of  them,  would  drive  her  out  of  the  house 
forever,  because  she  had  broken  caste.  You 
would  find  men  who  would  rather  starve  than 
eat  with  our  President  or  Queen  Victoria ;  and 
all  for  caste." 

"  But  how  did  this  come  about,  mother  ? " 

"  As  it  may  yet  come  about  in  America. 
Our  Eastern  cousins  did  not  always  live  in 
India,  but  moved  down  there,  probably  from 
the  North-west.  I  cannot  tell  when  they  came ; 
but,  before  that,  the  land  was  filled  with  a  race 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  21 

called  the  Dasyus,  —  dark-skinned,  and  not  at  all 
equal  to  our  cousins  the  Aryans,  who  conquered 
them,  killed  many  of  them,  and  despised  and 
hated  those  they  let  live.  Often  when  I  see  an 
American  boy  pulling  a  young  Chinaman's  cue, 
or  hallooing  '  Paddy  ! '  or  pelting  a  little  negro, 
I  think,  'Just  so,  no  doubt,  the  little  Aryans 
teased  the  young  Dasyus  more  than  three  thou- 
sand years  ago,  and  never  dreamed  they  were 
twining  a  rope  around  their  country's  neck  that 
should  lay  it  helpless  for  centuries.'  " 

"  But,  sister,  you  don't  really  think  we  are 
in  danger  of  becoming  Hindoos  here  in  Ameri- 
ca ?"  asked  Ida. 

"  Nothing  can  help  it,  so  far  as  caste  is  con- 
cerned, but  the  missionary  spirit  of  Christianity, 
teaching  us  to  think  souls  as  valuable  in  China, 
or  Africa,  or  Ireland,  as  in  America,  now  that 
our  country  is  filling  up  with  foreigners,  many 
of  them  so  unlike  ourselves." 

Walter  gave  a  low,  incredulous  whistle  ;  and 
Mrs.  Bancroft  continued :  "  There  was  another 
source  of  caste.  There  were  priests,  farmers, 
and  soldiers  among  the  people.  The  priests 
claimed  the  highest  place,  and  took  it.  The 
soldiers  came  next ;  then  the  farmers.  These 


22  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

formed  three  separate  castes  ;  but  all  joined  in 
despising  the  poor  Dasyus,  now  called  Sudras. 
'  Do  not  speak  to  a  Sudra,'  says  one  of  their 
authors ;  the  gods  do  not :  or,  if  you  have 
something  to  say  to  him,  speak  to  some  other 
person  standing  by,  and  say, '  Tell  this  Sudra  so.' 
So  you  see  by  this  time  the  people  had  gods 
very  unlike  Him  who  '  dwelleth  with  him  that  is 
of  a  humble  and  contrite  heart,'  and  who  speaks 
in  every  human  soul.  Nobody  but  the  Brah- 
mans  read  the  Vedas  now,  and  they  pretended 
that  the  Vedas,  too,  taught  caste.  Gods  grew 
plenty,  and  silly  stories  were  told  about  them. 
Hideous  idols  were  made.  Widows  were  for- 
bidden to  marry,  and  were  taught  to  burn  them- 
selves with  the  dead  bodies  of  their  husbands. 
Time  divided  itself  into  four  yogas,  each  count- 
ing its  years  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  together 
making  up  four  million.  The  first  was  a  golden 
one  ;  but  ever  since,  so  the  people  were  told, 
goodness  had  been  dying  out,  until  now,  in  the 
Kali  yoga,  nothing  could  be  expected  but  a 
steady  growth  of  wickedness.  Above  all,  the 
people  were  taught  to  worship  the  Brahmans  as 
a  part  of  God  himself.  There  was  but  one 
thing,  so  they  thought,  that  common  people 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  23 

• 

needed  to  know  ;  and  that  was  to  obey  the  Brah- 
mans.  If  they  did  this,  they  might  hope,  after 
death,  to  be  born  into  the  world  again  human, 
and  in  some  higher  caste  ;  failing,  they  must 
take  the  form  of  some  lower  animal.  Some  of 
these  threatened  transmigrations  were  ludi- 
crously appropriate  :  for  example,  we  read  in 
the  Laws  of  Manu,  that,  'it  a  man  steal  grain, 
he  shall  be  born  a  rat ;  if  perfume,  a  muskrat ; 
if  flesh,  a  vulture  ;  and  so  on  indefinitely.' 

"  No  wonder  that  atheistic  teachers  arose,  and 
sceptics  multiplied. 

"  Then  came 

"  BUDDHA. 

"  His  real  name  was  Siddhartha,  or  perhaps 
Sakyamuni.  He  assumed  the  name  of  Gau- 
tama ;  and  for  his  wisdom  he  was  called  '  The 
Buddha,'  which  means  '  The'  Enlightened.'  He 
was  the  son  of  a  king,  but  lefj  his  native  coun- 
try and  his  kingdom,  that  he  might  seek  for 
truth,  or  happiness,  or  something  ;  for  I  doubt 
whether  even  he  knew  what  he  wanted.  His 
soul  was  hungry,  no  doubt,  as  all  souls  are 
sometimes.  He  saw  sickness,  old  age,  and 
death  around  him  ;  and  his  question  was,  '  How, 
since  evil  is  everywhere,  can  we  escape  from 


24  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

evil  ? '  The  rabble  of  Brahman  gods  he  de- 
spised and  neglected  :  so  some  called  him  an 
atheist.  He  fasted,  slept  on  rough  beds,  treated 
himself  more  severely  than  any  Brahman  :  so 
his  disciples  called  him  a  saint ;  but  he  himself 
claimed  to  be  neither,  for  some  time.  If  only 
then  he  had  raised  his  soul  to  God,  I  doubt  not 
that  He,  who  perhaps  at  that  very  hour  was 
speaking  to  Ezekiel  or  Daniel,  would  in  some 
way  have  spoken  to  him  ;  but  he  seems  to  have 
neither  believed  in  God,  nor  disbelieved  in  him. 
Instead  of  looking  to  him  for  light,  he  looked  to 
himself ;  and  there  he  thought  he  found  an 
answer  to  his  question.  It  was  this :  All  exist- 
ence is  evil,  because  changeable.  If  we  believe 
rightly  and  do  rightly,  we  shall  at  last  enter 
Nirvana,  and  change  no  more.'  In  his  five 
commandments  he  forbade  lying,  stealing,  mur- 
der, drunkenness^  and  adultery.  He  rejected 
the  Vedas  and  idol  worship,  and  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  caste.  What  would  he  have  said  if  he 
could  have  seen  the  time  when  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  millions  of  his  followers  should  be 
bowing  down  to  a  hideous,  long-eared,  half- 
dressed  image,  and  calling  it  Buddha,  after 
himself,  and  when  his  own  short  creed  and 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  2$ 

simple  history  should  be  stretched  through  more 
pages  than  are  found  in  the  Vedas  and  Puranas 
together ! 

"  With  this  short  creed  he  set  out  to-  convert 
India.  Disciples  flocked  to  him.  He  taught 
them  to  be  kind  to  all  human  things :  and  he 
looked  upon  spiders  and  mosquitoes,  and  all  liv- 
ing creatures,  as  human  ;  for,  like  the  Brahmans, 
he  held  that  souls  at  death  pass  into  other 
bodies ;  that  the  puppy  of  to-day  may  have  been 
a  gentleman  yesterday,  and  may  be  a  babe  in 
our  arms  to-morrow.  He  taught  them  his  five 
commandments,  taught  them  to  reverence  him- 
self, and,  like  him,  to  seek  Nirvana.  He  grew 
old,  and  died.  His  disciples  burned  his  body, 
fought  for  his  bones,  built  eight  temples  to  hold 
them,  and  called  him  God.  If  Buddha  told  the 
truth,  he  had  entered  Nirvana,  and  no  longer 
knew,  or  felt,  or  cared  for,  any  thing  below.  He 
did  not  wish  praise  or  gifts  ;  nor  could  he  help 
his  friends :  but  his  disciples  worshipped  him, 
and  made  costly  offerings  to  him,  very  much  as 
if  they  did  not  believe  a  word  he  had  said." 

"But  what  is  Nirvana  ?  "  asked  Kate. 

"  Any  thing  you  please,  almost.  To  Buddha 
himself  it  meant,  perhaps,  not  quite  annihilation, 


26  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

but  something  so  much  like  it,  that  our  best 
scholars  are  puzzled  to  define  the  difference. 
In  Buddha's  own  words,  '  It  is  neither  being, 
nor  nothing.'  It  has  the  same  meaning  to 
many  of  the  most  intelligent  Buddhists  of  to- 
day. Others  speak  of  it  as  the  incomprehensi- 
ble, —  the  thing  which  is,  but  is  not  anywhere, 
which  no  one  can  understand.  To  others  it 
means  rest,  freedom  from  thought,  care,  pain, 
and  trouble.  Meanwhile,  many  of  the  lower 
classes,  looking  through  Nirvana's  gates  ajar, 
see  there  every  thing  they  want  to  eat  and 
drink,  and  to  make  them,  in  a  coarse,  gross 
way,  happy." 

"  And  did  Buddhism  grow  after  Buddha 
died?" 

"  Yes,  very  rapidly  ;  and,  in  a  few  centuries, 
caste  was  little  thought  of.  Brahmanism  was 
scarcely  visible ;  and  all  over  India  arose  splen- 
did temples  to  Buddha,  the  ruins  of  which  still 
remain.  There  are  curious  carved  images  in 
them,  and  mounds  of  solid  masonry  ;  in  one  case, 
one  hundred  and  six  feet  in  diameter,  and  forty- 
two  in  height.  In  most  of  them  are  boxes  of 
treasures  and  relics.  Mr.  Cunningham  explored 
these  topes  some  years  ago,  and  opened  the 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  27 

boxes.  In  many  of  them  he  found  pearls, 
beads,  wheat,  barley,  rice,  and  in  one  of  them 
a  live  spider,  probably  a  squatter  on  his  own 
hook ;  though,  if  Buddha's  doctrine  be  true, 
he  was  certainly  the  most  valuable  treasure 
in  the  box,  since  he  alone  contained  a  human 
soul. 

"  For  nearly  a  thousand  years,  Buddha  ruled 
India.  Then  the  Brahmans  again  gained  power. 
How  they  first  gained  it  history  does  not  tell  us  ; 
but,  when  once  it  was  theirs,  they  used  it  in 
driving  the  Buddhists  into  Ceylon,  Nepal, 
Thibet,  and  China :  and  now  in  all  Hindostan 
there  are  no  Buddhists,  and  the  ruins  of  these 
temples  are  the  only  witness  left  of  one  of  the 
grandest  failures  of  history. 

"  In  the  downfall  of  Buddhism,  India  learned, 
what  our  own  country  may  yet  have  to  be 
taught,  that  the  soul  can  never  find  rest  in  a 
god  who  neither  knows  nor  feels  nor  cares  for 
us  ;  that  no  talk  about  the  '  divine  possibilities 
of  humanity,'  even  though  coupled  with  a 
promise  that  every  faithful  soul  shall  at  last  be- 
come '  Buddha,'  God,  can  atone  for  the  loss  of 
the  right  to  say,  '  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven.' 


28  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  I  think  it  was  the  fact  that  the  Brahman 
gods  did  feel,  though  not  always  very  amiably, 
and  did  profess  to  take  care,  though  certainly 
not  very  good  care,  of  their  followers,  that  gave 
them  their  second  chance  in  Hindostan." 

"  I  really  think,"  said  Ida,  when  she  was  left 
alone  with  Mrs.  Bancroft,  "  that,  in  return  for 
this  gratification  of  Katie's  missionary  curiosi- 
ty, you  would  do  well  on  other  evenings  to  com- 
pel her  to  spend  a  part  of  her  time  in  some 
secular  study.  She  is  behind  Walter  now  in 
mathematics,  and  doesn't  know  enough  of  geog- 
raphy or  grammar  to  pass  examination  for  the 
high  school." 

"  I  will  think  of  it,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft. 

"  And  insist  upon  it,  please  ;  for,  now  her 
mind  is  turning  so  much  to  missionary  studies, 
it  will  be  harder  than  ever  to  persuade  her  to 
attend  to  these  things,  that  have  nothing  to  do 
with  missions." 

"  I  would  like  to  see  a  study  that  had  nothing 
to  do  with  missions,"  replied  Mrs.  Bancroft.  "  I 
believe  God  made  the  world,  knowing  that 
it  would  be  the  field  of  missions  ;  and  that 
every  object  of  nature,  every  science,  physi- 
cal and  mental,  and  every  art,  was  designed 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


29 


to    pour     its    treasures    into    the    missionary 
storehouse." 

Ida  smiled  at  what  seemed  to  her  a  piece 
of  enthusiastic  extravagance  not  worth  refut- 
ing. 


CHAPTER    II. 

BRAHMANISM   AND    ITS    ADVERSARIES. 

]UNTIE,"  said  Charlie  in  one  of  his 
frequent  vists  to  Mrs.  Bancroft's  sitting- 
room,  "  Clarence  Merriam  is  coming  to 
hear  about  the  missionaries  this  evening." 

"I  don't  want  him;  he's  too  big,"  spoke 
Edith. 

"  And  a  goose  besides,"  added  Walter. 

"  He  knows  a  great  many  things  you  don't," 
Charlie  answered  warmly.  Charlie  was  one  who 
rather  enjoyed  being  patronized  by  those  who 
had  stepped  a  few  months  beyond  the  limits  of 
boyhood.  Walter  detested  it.  This  was  the 
occasion  of  their  difference  of  opinion  about 
.Clarence. 

"  All  geese  know  things  that  I  don't,"  Walter 
retorted  ;  "  but  I  don't  care  to  live  in  a  poultry- 
yard  for  the  sake  of  learning  them." 

3° 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  31 

"  Clarence  knows  every  thing  already ;  that 
is  his  worst  fault,"  said  Katie. 

"  In  that  case  he  will  not  care  to  be  with  us 
often ;  and,  since  he  has  proposed  to  come,  of 
course  we  must  offer  him  a  chair,"  said  Mrs. 
Bancroft. 

Early  in  the  evening  the  chair  was  filled. 

"  Don't  you  think  those  Brahman  gods  must 
have  had  a  jolly  time,  when  they  found  them- 
selves worshipped  again,  after  being  kicked 
around  for  half  a  dozen  centuries  or  more  ? " 
said  Walter,  as  the  family  were  seated  around 
the  table,  waiting  for  Mrs.  Bancroft  to  come  in 
from  little  Minnie's  room. 

"  It  isn't  right  for  you  to  talk  so.  You  know 
there  are  no  real  Brahman*  gods,"  said  Kate. 

"  Besides,  you  ought  to  have  more  sympathy 
for  poor  Buddha,"  suggested  Charlie. 

"  Oh  !  he  had  entered  Nirvana,  where  he  would 
rather  enjoy  being  kicked  round,  or  at  least 
wouldn't  have  the  slightest  wish  for  any  thing 
else.  They  have  no  desires  of  any  sort  in  Nir- 
vana, you  know/' 

"  And  I  should  have  told  you,"  Mrs.  Bancroft 
added  as  she  sat  down  among  them,  "that, 
though  Buddha  has  now  no  worshippers  in  his 


32  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

own  country  of  Hindostan,  a  large  part  of  the 
people  of  China,  Nepal,  Thibet,  Siam,  Burmah, 
and  Japan,  call  themselves  Buddhists  now.  To 
be  worshipped  by  one-third  of  .the  people  of 
the  world  would  satisfy  any  ordinary  ambition, 
one  would  think :  but  Buddhism  in  most  of 
those  countries  is  a  very  different  thing  from 
the  doctrine  that  Buddha  taught ;  and,  if  he 
were  on  earth  to-day,  I  doubt  if  there  is  any 
place  in  the  world  where  he  would  feel  quite  so 
much  a  stranger  as  in  one  of  his  own  temples. 
No  kitten  ever  tangled  a  ball  of  yarn  more  com- 
pletely than  Buddhism  tangled  the  affairs  of  men 
and  gods  in  India.  Only  two  of  the  original 
castes  could  be  found  now,  —  the  Brahmans  and 
the  Sudras ;  and  a  pure  Sudra  even  was  not 
very  common.  Most  of  the  people  were  of 
mixed  castes,  each  caste  representing  a  different 
occupation.  These  distinctions  had  been  little 
thought  of  while  Buddhism  ruled  ;  but,  when 
the  Brahmans  came  back,  they  drew  the  lines 
more  closely  than  ever,  multiplying  the  number 
of  castes  to  suit  emergencies,  until  now  it  would 
puzzle  a  foreigner  to  count  them." 

"  And  did  they  bring  back  all  the  old  gods 
too  ? "  asked  Kate. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  33 

"  Yes,  and  more.  If  Hindoo  gods  were  good 
for  any  thing,  they  would  be  the  most  profitable 
crop  one  could  raise  ;  for'  they  multiply  like  this- 
tles :  no  sooner  is  one  planted  than  a  dozen  oth- 
ers shoot  out  from  him.  In  this  way,  Juggernaut 
came  from  Krishna,  and  he  from  Vishnu,  and  all 
originally  from  Brahme,  or  the  Brahma,  of  whom 
(or  which),  according  to  Hindoo  theology,  every 
thing  we  say  is  false :  so  it  may  be  as  well  to 
say  nothing. 

"  Among  all  their  three  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  of  gods,  there  was  not  one  who  loved 
them,  not  one  whom  they  loved.  Brahma,  cold 
and  unfeeling,  ruled  over  all,  but  had  no  temples. 
Vishnu  the  preserver  had  a  few ;  Siva  the  de- 
stroyer, many :  but  most  worshipped  the  swarm 
of  lower  gods,  who  took  care  of  harvests,  health, 
weather,  war,  and  other  of  the  affairs  of  this 
life  ;  and  the  worst  gods  had  the  most  worship- 
pers. 

"  And  through  all  this  great,  wicked  country 
rolled  the  beautiful,  terrible  Ganges,  —  the  sacred 
Ganges,  —  rising  far  up  among  the  Himalayas, 
amid  scenery  so  full  of  God's  glory,  that  one 
must  be  worse  than  a  heathen  who  could  visit  it, 
and  hear  no  voice  calling  upon  him  to  pray ; 


34  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

dashing  fiercely  at  first  over  its  granite  bed,  then 
rolling  on,  through  precipices  and  over  crum- 
bling rocks,  unbridged  through  all  its  sixteen 
hundred  miles,  gathering,  as  it  rolled,  offerings 
of  gold  and  silver  and  fruits,  and  animals,  and 
children  even,  thrown  into  it  by  its  worshippers, 
yes,  and  the  lives  of  those  worshippers,  and 
their  bodies  when  dead,  mixing  them  with 
the  filth  of  nine  large  cities,  and  uncounted 
villages,  —  yet  still  so  sacred,  that  crowds  of  pil- 
grims flocked  there  to  bathe,  to  drink  its  waters, 
to  fill  tneir  dying  mouths  with  its  mud,  or,  it 
may  be,  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  a  lifetime  by 
dying  beneath  its  waves.  Near  its  source,  in 
a  region  that  seems  more  like  the  ruins  of  an- 
other world  than  a  part  of  the  home  of  mortals, 
are  laid  many  of  the  scenes  of  the  Shasters.  In 
its  lower  course  the  Shasters  find  their  true 
fulfilment.  The  River  Ganges  is  the  best  com- 
mentary on  Brahmanism." 

"  But  how  could  there  be  such  change  from 
the  original  religion,  when  the  people  still  had 
the  Vedas,  and  believed  in  them  ? "  asked  Kate. 

"The  common  people  and  the  women  were 
not  allowed  to  read  the  Vedas.  If  a  Sudra 
read  them,  he  was  to  have  his  ears  filled  with 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  35 

melted  lead.  Few  even  of  the  Brahmans  could 
read  and  understand  them :  and  though  remem- 
bering them  removed  all  sin,  and  a  Brahman 
who  should  destroy  three  worlds,  and  eat  food 
from  any  quarter  whatever,  would  be  guiltless,  if 
he  remembered  the  Vedas,  few  remembered  any 
parts  but  those  used  in  sacrifice ;  and  they  un- 
understood  little  of  the  meaning  even  of  those. 

"  Here  and  there  a  Brahman  might  be  found 
seeking  absorption  in  Brahma;  but  since,  in 
doing  it,  he  must  not  only  fight  against  every 
thing  human  within  and  around  him,  but 
against  a  whole  swarm  of  lower  gods,  jealous 
lest  he  should  just  miss  of  absorption,  enter 
heaven,  and  become  a  rival  of  theirs,  his  chance 
was  not  great.  Too  often  he  became  contented 
with  the  reward  he  was  sure  he  could  obtain,  — 
the  praise,  worship,  and  gifts  of  the  people,  —  and, 
reserving  his  austerities  for  exhibition  before 
the  public,  lived  in  private  a  life  of  luxury  and 
vice.  It  was  an  essential  article  of  his  creed 
that  every  thing  was  unreal,  and  life  an  infinite 
humbug :  what  wonder  that  he  often  became  a 
humbug  too  ? 

"  The  lower  classes  were  hopeless.  At  the 
best,  they  could  only  gain  absorption .  by  being 


36  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

born  Brahmans  in  some  future  transmigration. 
If  they  tried  for  any  thing  in  the  next  life,  it 
was  only  to  have  a  -tolerably  comfortable  body 
to  enter  when  they  should  leave  this.  With  a 
hundred  thousand  hells  yawning  to  receive 
them,  the  chance  of  that  was  not  great.  But 
there  was  more  hope  of  gaining  it  by  making 
gifts  to  the  idols  or  the  Brahmans,  or  by  dig- 
ging pools,  or  making  roads,  or  a  thousand  other 
things,  than  by  truth  and  honesty." 

Clarence  Merriam  showed  some  uneasiness 
during  this  description,  and,  when  Mrs.  Ban- 
croft paused,  interposed  at  once :  — 

"  All  you  say  may  be  true ;  but  are  there  not 
some  compensations  in  the  heathen  religions 
which  we  ought  not  to  overlook  ?  Do  you  not 
think  our  cold  Western  religion  suffers  from  the 
lack  of  that  feminine  element  which  all  other 
forms  of  worship  share  ?  Nowhere  is  the  refin- 
ing influence  of  woman  more  needed  than  in 
religion  ;  and  I  think  the  heathen  in  their  god- 
desses, and  the  Catholic  in  his  worship  of  the 
Virgin,  have  something  that  our  balder  Protes- 
tant faith  sadly  lacks." 

Charlie  gazed  at  Clarence  in  profound  rever- 
ence while  he  delivered  this  brisk  little  speech. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  37 

Walter  drummed  on  the  table.  Mrs.  Bancroft 
listened  as  attentively  and  respectfully  as  if  she 
had  not  heard  the  same  thing  a  great  many 
times  before. 

"  As  for  the  '  refining  influence  of  woman,'  " 
she  answered,  "  there  is  a  good  deal  of  nonsense 
about  it.  Every  thing  depends  upon  who  the 
woman  is.  Very  possibly,  however,  we  may 
learn  something  by  paying  a  visit  to  Kali,  wife 
of  Siva,  and  most  popular  of  Hindoo  goddesses, 
in  her  home  as  it  was  when  the  deep  quiet  of 
Brahmanism  was  first  broken  by  the  advent  of 
missionaries. 

"  Three  miles  out  from  Calcutta,  we  enter  a 
low,  filthy,  ruinous  archway.  This  leads  us  to  a 
miserable  court-yard ;  this,  to  another  archway. 
On  our  way  we  pass  numbers  of  fakirs,  saying 
their  prayers  under  the  oshatto-tree,  and  look- 
ing wistfully  to  us  for  money  as  we  go  by. 
Then  we  reach  a  building  smaller  than  the 
smallest  English  chapel,  though  larger  than 
most  Hindoo  temples,  the  famous  Kali  Ghat. 
This  is  Kali's  house.  There  she  stands,  a  huge, 
black  stone,  with  four  hands,  a  hideous  face,  red 
eyes  and  nose,  and  a  tongue  projecting  a  foot 
from  her  mouth.  Here  she  eats,  sleeps,  and 


38  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

receives  the  offerings  of  kids,  buffaloes,  rice, 
sweetmeats,  fruits,  gold,  and  silver,  which  her 
admirers  bring  her.  Here,  in  1802,  the  officers 
of  the  English  Government  brought  her  a 
thank-offering  of  five  thousand  rupees  for  their 
successes  in  India.  Near  by  is  a  large  hall, 
where  attending  Brahmans  read  the  Shasters, 
and  her  friends  meet  to  worship  her.  Now  and 
then  a  stray  cow  or  bull  takes  its  place  among 
them  ;  but  no  one  takes  offence  at  it.  Why 
should  he  ?  The  cow  is  scarcely  less  sacred 
than  the  Brahmans,  and  much  more  so  than 
those  who  listen  to  them.  Twice  a  day  she  eats 
a  meal  of  rice,  sweetmeats,  and  fruit,  so  abun- 
dant, that  she  has  to  employ  from  thirty  to  a 
hundred  people  to  chew  and  digest  it  for  her. 
Every  day  she  takes  a  nap.  I  am  not  aware 
that  she  does  anything  besides- eat  and  sleep 
now :  but  her  pictures  and  images  all  over  the 
land  bear  witness  to  the  deeds  she  has  done  in 
times  past;  for  her  waist  is  girdled  with  the 
severed,  bleeding  hands  of  those  she  has  slain ; 
and  on  her  breast  rests  a  necklace  of  forty 
skulls.  I  cannot  ask  you  to  go  to  one  of  her 
feasts  with  me;  for  she  is  worshipped  with 
songs  so  vile,  that  it  would  be  a  crime  to  listen 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  39 

to  them :  yet  men,  women,  and  children  join 
the  worship.  Her  admirers  are  everywhere. 
Thieves  pray  to  her  for  success  in  thieving; 
honest  men,  for  protection  against  thieves ; 
merchants,  for  prosperity  in  business  ;  mothers, 
for  their  children  ;  lost  women*  for  the  sharers 
of  their  sin  ;  and  all  bring  her  offerings.  Many 
a  rich  man  has  made  himself  poor  for  her  sake : 
and  if,  by  chance,  a  poor  man  in  the  country 
villages  offends  the  Brahmans,  when  he  wakes 
in  the  morning  he  may  find  an  image  of  Kali 
placed  before  his  door ;  and  then  woe  to  him  if 
he  fail  to  beg,  borrow,  or  steal  money  enough 
to  '  worship  her '  by  offerings  of  rice  and  sweet- 
meats and  clothes,  and  brass  vessels,  to  his 
tormentors  !  The  Puranas  say  that  the  sacrifice 
of  a  goat  pleases  her  a  hundred  years  ;  of  a  man, 
a  thousand  ;  of  three  men,  a  hundred  thousand  : 
and  careful  directions  are  given  for  human 
sacrifices,  with  the  promise,  that,  if  the  severed 
head  of  a  victim  smiles,  prosperity  will  follow ; 
and,  if  it  speaks,  whatever  it  says  will  come  to 
pass.  When  Carey  came,  she  had  had  no  public 
human  sacrifices  for  years  ;  yet  now  and  then, 
in  the  morning,  before  her  temple,  might  be 
found  cold,  headless  bodies.  Whence  they 


40  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

came  no  one  told;  but  why  they  were  there 
every  one  knew ;  and  no  one  dared  hint  at  the 
arrest  of  the  murderer,  lest  Kali  be  angry. 
Long  after  Carey's  time,  Kali's  pet  children,  the 
Thugs,  men  wholly  consecrated  to  her  service, 
roamed  through  India,  clustering  especially 
about  holy  Benares,  lying  in  wait  at  night,  and 
slipping  the  fatal  noose  over  rich  merchants,  or 
pilgrims,  or  strangers  who  had  been  heard  to 
speak  a  word  against  Kali,  or  any  one  who 
passed ;  passing  their  trade  on  from  father  to 
son,  gaining  in  it  such  horrible  skill,  that  no 
sound  ever  escaped  the  strangling  victim,  nor 
was  his  death  known,  till,  in  the  morning,  his 
body  was  found  with  tongue  thrust  from  his 
mouth  in  hideous  imitation  of  the  goddess  to 
whom  he  was  sacrificed. 

"  They  claim,  that,  in  earlier  times,  Kali  used 
to  follow  their  bands,  and  herself  eat  up  their 
victims  :  but  one  of  their  number,  looking  back, 
saw  her  at  her  repast,  which  so  disgusted  her, 
that  she  would  act  as  sextoness  no  longer ;  but 
she  gave  them  the  hem  of  her  garment  for  a 
noose,  and  a  tooth  for  a  pickaxe;  and  with 
terrible  faithfulness  has  her  hint  been  carried 
out. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  41 

"  But  is  Kali  pleased,  after  all  ?  That  question 
rests  always  like  a  nightmare  upon  her  wor- 
shippers. Once  a  year  most  of  the  wealthier 
families  make  an  image  of  her  from  straw  and 
wood,  and  sacred  Ganges  clay ;  and  a  feast  is 
spread ;  and  Brahmans  dance,  and  perform  cere- 
monies, and  pray  the  goddess  to  enter  the  image. 
At  the  close  of  the  day  they  thank  her  for  her 
visit,  and  allow  her  to  leave  again. 

"  They  might  well  be  thankful,  if,  for  even  one 
day,  her  spirit  could  be  confined  to  clay  images. 
It  is  everywhere.  It  broods,  a  terrible  presence, 
over  all  India,  always  demanding  gifts,  always 
threatening  vengeance,  always  hungry  for  blood. 
If  a  friend  is  sick  or  dying,  if  business  fails,  if 
floods  come,  Kali  is  angry ;  her  temple  is 
deluged  with  the  blood  of  animals,  or  her  altars 
covered  with  treasure  ;  and,  if  she  is  still  unsat- 
isfied, the  mother  tears  her  infant  from  her,  and 
—  tearless,  for  the  goddess  hates  sentiment  — 
drowns  it  to  appease  her." 

Mrs.  Bancroft  paused.  There  was  a  mo- 
ment's silence,  in  which  everybody  was  expect- 
ing everybody  else  to  speak.  Then  Walter 
broke  it :  — 


•42 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


"  Mother,  haven't  we  had  '  refining  influence ' 
enough  for  the  present.  Suppose  we  try  mis- 
sionaries next  time  ? " 

"They  are  ready,  if  called  for,"  said  Mrs. 
Bancroft. 


CHAPTER   III. 


THE"  FIRST    MISSIONARIES. 

O  more  heathen  for  the  present,  Kate  !  " 
exclaimed  Walter  the  next  morning. 
"  Why  not  ? " 

"Grandpa  Sears  is  coming." 

"  Who  is  grandpa  Sears  ? " 

"  Mother's  grandfather,  —  the  one  that  brought 
her  up  when  her  father  died." 

"  He  must  be  good,  then,  or  she  wouldn't 
have  been  so  good." 

"Don't  know  about  that.  I've  an  idea  that 
wicked  folks  do  quite  as  much  towards  manu- 
facturing saints  as  good  ones.  Expect  I  shall 
have  great  credit  for  the  aid  I've  been  to  you  in 
that  direction,  some  time.  Anyway,  I  can  assure 
you  that  boys  won't  be  very  plenty  about  this 
house  for  a  while  to  come." 

To  Katie  the  anticipation  of  the  arrival  meant 

43 


44  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

exchanging  crochet  -  needle  and  worsted  for 
dust-brush  and  broom  ;  for  grandpa  Sears  must 
have  a  room  down  stairs,  and  a  bed  in  it,  and  an 
open  fire,  and  brown  rolls  for  tea,  and  pies  with 
light  crust,  and  all  the  other  little  alterations  in 
family  arrangements  which  form  the  "  rights  " 
of  invalids  and  old  people. 

"  How  long  is  he  going  to  stay  ? "  asked  Kate, 
before  she  had  been  at  work  half  an  hour. 

"  Always,  if  he  likes." 

Katie's  dust-brush  did  not  move  the  faster  for 
this  announcement.  The  prospect  of  giving  up 
her  studies  for  a  few  weeks  for  the  sake  of  an 
old  man  whom  she  never  saw,  and  who  wouldn't 
care  a  straw  for  her,  or  the  heathen,  or  anybody 
but  himself,  was  bad  enough  ;  but  to  have  it 
always —  Katie  was  startled  to  notice  how  often 
her  mind  turned  to  the  thought  that  people  do 
not  often  live  long  after  they  are  eighty-eight. 
The  children  caught  her  spirit,  and  moved  about 
gloomily,  as  if  expecting  every  moment  that  the 
next  they  would  be  packed  into  drawers  and 
band-boxes,  to  be  "  out  of  the  way  while  grand- 
pa is  here."  Altogether,  it  was  a  dismal  day ; 
and  Katie  lay  down  at  night  dissatisfied. 

Grandpa  had  come  ;  but  he  had  gone  at  once 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  45 

to  his  room.  Katie  had  not  seen  him,  and  did 
not  wish  to  see  him. 

The  next  day  she  felt  better,  and  went  cheer- 
fully about  her  work,  though  the  house  did  seem 
wholly  different  from  the  one  she  worked  in  two 
days  before.  Grandpa  was  weary  with  his  jour- 
ney, and  confined  to  his  room.  Mrs.  Bancroft 
confined  herself  with  him,  except  when  she  left 
to  give  some  order  for  his  comfort.  Minnie  and 
Edith  crept  about  like  little  mice.  The  boys 
took  lunch  in  a  basket,  and  disappeared  immedi- 
ately after  breakfast 

The  second  day  was  a  repetition  of  the  first. 
Even  Walter  gave  a  deliberate  "  Hurrah ! "  when, 
on  the  third,  Ida  told  him  the  missionaries  were 
to  be  brought  out  again  in  the  evening.  He 
took  it  as  a  sign  that  things  were  coming  back 
to  their  normal  state. 

"  Of  course  something'll  happen  to  prevent  it, 
though,"  he  added.  But  nothing  did  happen ; 
and  early  in  the  evening  Mrs.  Bancroft  began : — 

"  Four  centuries  and  a  half  of  Mohammedan 
rule,  nearly  two  of  real,  and  as  many  more  of 
mimic  Mogul  government,  two  centuries  of 
Catholic  missionary  labor  and  commercial  inter- 
course with  all  the  leading  nations  of  the  world, 


46  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

had  made  no  real  impression  on  either  the 
morals  or  the  religion  of  the  Hindoos  ;  when, 
near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  William 
Carey,  a  young  English  shoemaker,  and  licensed 
preacher,  pasted  up  in  his  shop  a  map  of  the 
world,  entered  on  it  all  the  information  he  could 
gain  as  to  the  population,  character,  and  religion 
of  its  countries,  and  looked  up  from  his  last  to 
plan  the  beginnings  of  the  work  of  modern 
missions. 

"  He  spoke  his  thoughts  to  his  father,  and  re- 
ceived for  answer  the  question,  '  William,  are 
you  mad  ? '  He  presented  it  at  a  ministers' 
meeting  ;  and  the  chairman,  Mr.  Ryland,  sprang 
frowning  to  his  feet,  and  thundered  out,  '  Young 
man,  sit  down !  When  God  means  to  convert 
the  heathen,  he  will  do  it  without  your  aid  or 
mine.'  He  conversed,  printed,  and  preached 
upon  the  subject,  introducing  it  with  never- 
failing  patience  wherever  he  had  opportunity, 
at  the  same  time  giving  all  his  busy  moments  — 
he  had  no  leisure  ones  —  to  fitting  himself  for 
the  work  before  him ;  and  at  last  had  the  satis- 
faction of  aiding  in  the  organization  of  the 
Particular  Baptist  Society  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel  among  the  Heathen. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  47 

"  Soon  another  was  found  who  wished  to  go 
to  India  as  a  missionary,  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas,  who 
had  been  acting  as  surgeon  in  Bengal.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  society  Jan.  10,  1793,  Mr.  Carey 
and  Mr.  Thomas  saw  each  other  for  the  first 
time. 

"'From  Mr.  Thomas's  account,'  said  Mr. 
Fuller  at  that  meeting,  '  there  is  a  gold-mine  in 
India ;  but  it  seems  almost  as  deep  as  the  centre 
of  the  earth.  Who  will  venture  to  explore  it  ? ' 

" '  I  will  go  down,'  said  Mr.  Carey ;  '  but  re- 
member that  you  must  hold  the  ropes.' 

"  When  we  remember  that  Mr.  Carey  pledged 
himself  to  these  extensive  mining  operations  at 
a  time  when  the  entire  capital  of  the  society 
was  little  over  thirteen  pounds,  and  that  even 
now  it  was  not  nearly  sufficient  to  pay  the  pas- 
sage-money, we  can  hardly  wonder  that  his 
ministering  brethren  called  him  an  enthusiast. 

"At  last,  on  the  loth  of  November,  1793,  the 
missionaries  set  foot  on  '  the  land  of  tigers  and 
crocodiles.' " 

"  Did  the  tigers  catch  him  ? "  asked  Edith, 
who  was  growing  restless  for  something  more 
exciting  in  the  story. 

"Not yet,  Edie;  be  patient,"  said  Walter  com- 
passionately. 


48  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"Tigers  are  not  so  fond  of  missionaries  as 
people  are  apt  to  think,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft. 
"  Calcutta,  where  Mr.  Thomas  settled,  and  com- 
menced business  as  a  surgeon,  is  a  city  of  over 
four  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  ;  and  tigers 
are  not  quite  as  plenty  there  as  in  New  York. 
Mr.  Carey  -fixed  his  home  forty  miles  farther  east, 
and  only  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  sunderbunds, 
dense  forests  covering  thousands  of  square 
miles  in  the  delta  of  the  Ganges,  filled  with 
tigers,  jackals,  leopards,  and  .serpents  ;  but  the 
wild  beasts  feared  his  gun,  and  he  had  little 
trouble. 

"  Two  hundred  years  earlier,  Parliament  had 
incorporated  a  trading  company  to  do  business 
in  India.  For  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  this  company  went  on  its  way,  trading 
with  the  natives  ;  employing  weavers,  and  ship- 
ping the  product  of  their  looms  to  England  ; 
making  fortunes  for  its  stockholders  and  offi- 
cers, and  starving  its  subordinates  ;  buying  a 
little  land  as  it  needed  it ;  and  building  petty 
forts  to  defend  its  warehouses,  but  with  no 
more  idea  of  ever  governing  India  than  the 
Liquor  Dealers'  Association  of  New  York  has 
of  governing  America,  —  perhaps  with  less. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


49 


"  Previous  to  and  during  this  time,  one  after 
another,  Persia,  Portugal,  Holland,  Denmark, 
and  France  had  each  coveted  a  slice  of  India 
and  taken  it,  giving  pay  sometimes  in  money, 
but  oftener  in  bullets. 

"The  next  twenty  years  brought  great 
changes;  and  in  Carey's  time  this  band  of 
merchants,  known  as  the  East  India  Company, 
was  the  chief  governing  power  in  India." 

"  That  must  have  been  a  great  help  to  Carey," 
interposed  Walter. 

"  Instead,  it  was  his  greatest  hinderance. 
England  had  conquered  India.  Hindooism  had 
conquered  the  English.  In  Carey's  time,  the 
morals  of  the  English  East-Indians  were  no 
better  than  those  of  the  heathen.  •  The  officers 
of  the  East  India  Company  kept  sacred  the 
feast  of  Durga,  but  paid  no  regard  to  the 
sabbath.  They  offered  money  to  build  an  idol 
temple.  They  furnished  Juggernaut  with  car- 
penters to  repair  his  body,  and  servants  to  draw 
his  car.  They  made  offerings  to  the  Ganges. 
Meanwhile  Carey  and  Thomas  were  tolerated 
only  because  they  reported  themselves  as  indigo 
merchants,  having  accepted  the  offer  of  a  Mr. 
Udney  to  take  charge  of  two  of  his  factories. 


50  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

It  was  a  common  saying  among  the  natives, 
that  all  tribes  had  some  god,  or  form  of  worship : 
the  English  only  were  atheists.  It  was  not  a 
great  mistake,  so  far  as  the  officers  of  the  East 
India  Company  were  concerned.  Their  god 
was  gold.  They  feared  that  education  would 
make  the  Hindoos  less  manageable  ;  they  feared 
that  preaching  Christianity  would  excite  them  to 
riots.  They  had  often  run  far  greater  risk  of 
riot  for  the  sake  of  gold :  but  gold  was  worth 
incurring  risks  for ;  and  Christianity,  to  their 
minds,  was  not. 

"  For  six  years  Carey  and  Thomas  struggled 
with  floods  and  drought  and  fever,  native  in- 
difference, and  English  opposition ;  and  then, 
when  in  1799  new  missionaries  had  arrived, 
they  moved  to  Serampore,  a  Danish  settlement 
of  twenty  acres,  bought  for  a  factory  and  trad- 
ing-station two  years  before  Clive  began  the 
conquest  of  India  for  Britain.  Here  the  East 
India  Company  had  no  power,  and  could  only 
watch  the  missionaries  with  the  tender  interest 
which  a  cat  feels  in  a  caged  bird  hung  just  be- 
yond her  reach.  Here,  in  December,  1800,  the 
first  Hindoo  convert  was  baptized,  and,  two 
years  later,  ordained.  Here,  six  weeks  after  the 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  51 

baptism,  the  first  edition  of  the  Bengali  New 
Testament  was  printed,  followed  within  ten 
years  by  the  entire  Bible  in  Bengali,  and  New- 
Testament  versions  in  seven  other  languages. 
Here,  with  untiring  industry,  Carey  made  the 
researches  which  led  to  the  abolition  of  the 
yearly  sacrifice  of  children  at  Gunga  Sagor. 
Here  he  proved  that  he  had  talents  of  value 
even  according  to  East  India  Company  stand- 
ards, and  was  called  to  be  teacher  of  Sanscrit 
and  Bengali  in  Fort  William  College  in  Cal- 
cutta. Here,  with  his  two  associates  Marsh- 
man  and  Ward,  he  gathered  a  little  native 
church.  Around  them  clustered  a  band  of  mis- 
sionaries ;  and  by  voice  and  press  the  news  of 
the  gospel  went  out  for  seventy  miles  around. 

"  Sometimes,  for  a  little  while,  as  Mr.  Ward 
expressed  it,  missionaries  were  "  tolerated  like 
toads,  instead  of  being  hunted  like  wild  beasts ; " 
and  then  new  stations  were  occupied,  and  con- 
verts gathered  in  them.  Sometimes  all  public 
preaching  was  forbidden  outside  of  the  twenty 
acres  of  Danish  territory. 

"  I  wish  I  might  tell  you  all  the  story  of  those 
years;  but  it  is  that  you  might  understand 
another  story,  which  is  really  not  another,  but  a 
sequel,  that  I  have  told  you  this. 


52  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"Now  let  us  cross  the  ocean  to  America. 
Here,  in  1804,  we  find  Adoniram  Judson,  a  lad 
of  sixteen,  just  entering  college.  He  is  a  uni- 
versal reader,  a  quick  mathematician,  brilliant 
in  almost  every  department  of  study,  and  has 
but  one  ambition,  — '  to  be  a  great  man.' 

"  Four  years  later  he  graduated,  receiving  the 
highest  appointment.  In  the  class  above  him 

was  a  brilliant  young  deist  named  E . 

Partly  through  his  influence,  young  Judson,  too, 
became  a  deist,  and  remained  so  through  his 
college-course. 

"  Some  months  after  he  graduated,  while  on  a 
tour  through  New  York,  he  stopped  over  night 
at  a  country  inn.  In  the  room  next  him,  so  the 
landlord  told  him,  lay  a  sick  and  dying  young 
man.  Was  he  prepared  ?  It  seemed  an  absurd 
question  for  a  deist  to  ask  ;  and  yet  Judson 
asked  it,  or  something  asked  it  of  him,  all  night 
long.  Deism  could  deny  the  Bible-view  of  the 
future ;  but  it  could  not  assure  him  that  for  a 
change  so  great  no  preparation  was  needed. 
And  yet  he  blushed  at  his  anxiety  for  the 
stranger,  and  most  of  all  at  the  thought,  '  What 

would  E say  to  all  this  ? '  It  was  a  weary, 

terrible  night. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  53 

"The  next  morning's  sunshine  brought  a 
more  cheerful  frame  of  mind.  He  arose,  and 
inquired  for  his  fellow-lodger. 

" '  He  is  dead,'  was  the  answer. 

"  '  Dead  ? ' 

" '  Yes,  he  is  gone,  poor  fellow !  The  doctor 
said  he  could  not  survive  the  night.' 

" '  Do  you  know  who  it  was  ? ' 

" '  Oh,  yes  !  It  was  a  young  man  from  Provi- 
dence College,  a  fine  fellow.  His  name  was 
E .' 

"  At  first,  Judson  was  stunned  by  the  news. 
Then  he  was  aroused  to  a  new  earnestness. 
He  was  a  sceptic  still,  but  from  that  day  an 
honest  and  thoughtful  one.  In  October,  1808, 
he  entered  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  not 
as  a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  but  as  an  inquir- 
er for  truth.  Soon  he  was  a  believer  in  Christ. 
In  May,  1809,  he  united  with  the  Third  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Plymouth,  of  which  his 
father  was  pastor.  Almost  at  the  same  time 
he  pledged  himself  to  the  work  of  foreign  mis- 
sions, never  dreaming  then  that  the  voice  that 
called  him  had  spoken  also  to  other  ears. 

"  In  the  summer  or  fall  of  1807,  Samuel  Mills, 
a  student  at  Andover,  asked  Gordon  Hall  and 


54  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

James  Richards  to  take  a  walk  with  him  ;  and 
there  behind  a  haystack  they  spent  a  day  in 
fasting  and  prayer,  and  talking  about  missions. 
That  walk  and  talk  resulted  in  a  missionary 
society,  whose  records  were  kept  in  cipher,  and 
whose  members  were  pledged  to  secrecy,  lest 
their  Christian  friends  should  laugh  at  their 
Quixotism. 

"  The  kindred  spirits  soon  met.  Newell  and 
Nott  in  Andover  were,  like  Judson,  interested  in 
the  work.  Soon  several  members  of  the  Wil- 
liamstown  society,  among  them  Luther  Rice, 
left  Williamstown  for  Andover,  and  there  the 
society  was  removed.  The  result  of  their  ear- 
nestness was  the  organization  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
which  accepted  the  four  students,  Judson,  Nott, 
Mills,  and  Newhall,  as  its  missionaries.  Luther 
Rice  was  afterwards  added  to  the  number,  on 
condition  that  he  raise  funds  for  his  own  out- 
fit and  passage,  which  he  did  in  six  days.  Jud- 
son, on  the  5th  of  February,  1812,  was  married 
to  Miss  Ann  Hasseltine.  On  the  iQth,  with 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newell,  they  set  sail  for  India,  and 
in  four  months  landed  at  Calcutta. 

"  Their  arrival  found  the  East  India  Company 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  55 

in  one  of  its  worst  and  last  spasms  of  missionary- 
phobia, 

"  Before  the  other  missionaries  who  had  sailed 
at  nearly  the  same  time  with  them  had  arrived, 
almost  before  they  themselves  had  time  to  look 
around  them,  Judson  and  Newell  were  ordered 
back  to  America.  They  asked  leave  to  go  to 
some  other  part  of  India,  but  were  refused.  At 
last  they  gained  leave  to  go,  instead,  to  the  Isle 
of  France,  hundreds  of  miles  away,  off  the 
coast  of  Africa.  There  was  but  one  ship  about 
to  sail  for  that  port,  and  that  had  only  room  for 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newell.  The  Judsons  waited  for 
another  vessel,  and  for  the  arrival  of  '  The  Har- 
mony,' with  the  rest  of  the  missionaries. 

"They  were  American  citizens,  destined  for 
Burmah.  War  had  been  declared  between 
England  and  America.  There  were  grave  mut- 
terings  between  England  and  Burmah.  To  be 
on  English  soil  at  this  time,  under  any  circum- 
stances, was  not  pleasant :  to  be  there  in  a 
capacity  which  would  render  even  an  English 
citizen  liable  to  expulsion,  was  decidedly  un- 
pleasant. It  was  in  this  hour  of  isolation  that 
they,  with  their  own  hand,  cut  the  tie  that 
bound  them  to  their  only  human  source  of 
support,  —  the  American  Board, 


56  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"While  they  were  crossing  the  ocean,  Mr. 
Judson  commenced  studying  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism, partly  that  he  might  be  ready  to  meet  the 
arguments  of  the  Baptist  missionaries  whose 
guest  he  expected  to  be  at  Serampore  ;  partly 
that  he  might  certainly  know  what  to  do  with 
the  children  and  servants  of  the  converts  from 
heathenism;  whom  his  faith  already  saw  as  real 
beings. 

"  It  was  a  needless  labor  so  far  as  the  Seram- 
pore missionaries  were  concerned,  as  no  word 
was  said  to  him  on  the  subject,  until,  as  the 
result  of  his  investigations,  he  wrote  a  note 
requesting  baptism.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were 
baptized  by  Mr.  Ward,  Sept.  6.  Luther  Rice 
had  pursued  similar  studies  on  board,' The  Har- 
mony.' " 

"  I  always  said  I  had  a  hand  in  that  business," 
interrupted  grandpa  Sears.  Through  the  even- 
ing '  the  old  man  had  sat  immovable,  and  the 
young  people  supposed  asleep.  Had  the  old 
mahogany  sofa  spoken,  and  declared  that  it  had 
a  hand  in  the  missionary  work,  they  could  hardly 
have  been  more  surprised. 

"Tell  us  about  it,  grandfather,"  said  Mrs. 
Bancroft, 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  57 

"Baptists  weren't  very  plenty  in  our  region 
then.  I  was  one ;  but  I  always  went  to  church 
with  the  standing  order.  Well,  somehow  I'd 
got  waked  up  about  missions,  like  the  rest  of 
them  ;  and,  when  Judson  and  Newell  and  those 
went  out,  I  felt  just  like  doing  something. 
'  But  then,'  said  I  (or  maybe  'twas  the  Tempt- 
er speaking  to  me),  '  I  don't  know.  They 
won't  teach  what  you  believe.  Now,  what's  the 
use  of  your  paying  money  to  send  out  mission- 
aries to  teach  things  you  don't  believe  ? '  I 
waited,  and  thought  about  it :  and  by  and  by  I 
made  up  my  mind  that  I  couldn't  help  giving, 
anyway;  so  I  just  gave,  and  just  asked  the 
Lord  to  see  to  it  that  somehow  it  all  .went  to 
building  up  his  own  truth." 

"And  so,  when  the  news  came  that  Judson 
and  Rice  had  turned  Baptists,  you  thought  your 
prayer  was  answered,"  said  Clarence  with  an 
incredulous  smile,  which  grandpa  could  not  see. 

"  Yes,  I  did  ;  not  but  other  folks  had  prayed 
too,  and  not  but  'twould  have  been  answered 
somehow  if  that  hadn't  happened.  Anyway, 
I  was  satisfied.  And  when  I  read  in  the  next 
Board  Report, '  A  new  cloud  has  been  cast  upon 
the  affairs  of  the  mission,'  I  thought,  'That 


58  OUR   GOLD-MINE: 

Board'll  see  the  silver  lining  of  the  cloud  some 
time  ; '  and  I  guess  it  did.  Twenty  years  after, 
its  secretary  wrote  to  Dr.  Judson,  '  We  rejoice 
in  the  very  great  good  that  has  grown  out  of 
your  change  of  relation.  We  would  not  have  it 
otherwise.'  Nothing  in  the  world  would  have 
waked  up  the  Baptists  as  that  did ;  and  then, 
when  Luther  Rice  came  over —  But  I  mustn't 
get  ahead  of  our  story.  —  Go  on,  mother." 

"  Before  this  '  The  Harmony,'  with  the  other 
missionaries,  had  come.  Luther  Rice  too,  as 
the  result  of  his  studies  on  the  voyage,  had 
become  a  Baptist.  This  was  a  great  encour- 
agement to  Judson. 

"  But  "very  soon  there  came  an  order  that  all 
the  missionaries  must  sail  for  England  in  a  ship 
then  under  way.  Passage  was  engaged  for 
them  in  the  gunner's  mess.  How  their  wives 
were  to  be  disposed  of,  they  were  not  informed. 
Messrs.  Hall  and  Nott  escaped  the  notice  of 
the  police,  and  went  to  Bombay.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Judson  already  had  leave  to  go  to  the  Isle  of 
France,  and  applied  for  a  pass.  To  their  sur- 
prise, this  was  refused ;  but  a  vessel  was  ready 
to  sail  for  that  port,  and,  with  Mr.  Rice,  they 
asked  of  its  commander  leave  to  go  on  board. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  59 

" '  I  will  be  neutral.  There  is  the  ship :  you 
can  do  as  you  please/  was  his  reply. 

"  They  went  on  board ;  but,  when  only  fifteen 
miles  below  Calcutta,  the  ship  was  stopped,  and 
forbidden  to  proceed  with  them.  They  landed, 
and  went  down  the  river  to  a  hotel  at  Fultah. 
In  vain  they  urged  the  captain  of  a  vessel  lying 
there  to  take  them  to  Ceylon.  No  captain 
dared  receive  them.  Yet  to  remain  where  they 
were  was  dangerous,  and  to  go  back  to  Calcutta 
even  more  so.  Now,  in  the  midst  of  their 
greatest  distress,  came  the  asked-for  but  re- 
fused pass. 

"  The  vessel  on  which  they  started  had  been 
providentially  detained  some  miles  below.  By 
rowing  a  night  and  a  day,  they  reached  it  just 
as  it  was  weighing  anchor  for  the  last  time. 
On  the  I /th  of  January,  they  joined  Mr.  Newell 
at  the  Isle  of  France,  —  Mr.  Newell  only  ;  for 
Mrs.  Newell  had  died  seven  weeks  before. 

"A  few  months'  stay  convinced  them  that 
their  work  could  make  no  progress  while  they 
remained  there.  It  was  decided  that  Mr.  Rice 
should  go  back  to  America  to  arouse  an  interest 
in  missions  among  the  Baptists.  He  left  on 
the  1 5th  of  March  ;  and  on  the  7th  of  May  the 


60  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

Judsons  embarked  for  Madras,  entering  again 
the  lion's  jaws  with  only  the  hope  that  they 
might  have  a  chance  to  escape  before  he  would 
have  time  to  close  them  together. 

"Information  of  the  dangerous  arrival  was 
sent  to  the  governor-general.  How  he  would 
reply,  they  well  knew.  Their  only  hope  was  to 
be  absent  when  his  message  came.  The  only 
vessel  ready  to  sail  was  a  rickety  affair,  bound 
for  Rangoon  in  Burmah :  on  it  they  embarked. 
The  voyage  across  the  Bay  of  Bengal  was  a 
dreary  one.  Mrs.  Judson  was  sick,  so  very  sick, 
that,  at  one  time,  her  husband  could  only  look 
forward  to  being  left  wholly  alone.  Then  they 
were  driven  into  a  dangerous  strait,  whose  black 
rocks,  half  hidden  beneath  the  waves,  plainly 
told  them  they  might  have  to  choose  between 
drowning  and  being  cast  on  shore  and  eaten  by 
savages.  But  the  water  of  the  strait  was  still, 
and  Mrs.  Judson  grew  better.  They  passed  the 
rocks  in  safety,  and  favoring  winds  wafted  them 
to  Rangoon." 

Mrs.  Bancroft's  little  congregation  dispersed. 
She  was  sitting  alone  for  the  evening,  as  she 
supposed,  when  Katie's  light  step  descended  the 
stairs,  and  she  stood  beside  her. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  61 

"  Mother." 

"Well,  Katie." 

"  Do  you  suppose  I  could  borrow  a  geography 
and  history?  And  could  I  use  Walter's  old 
grammar  and  arithmetic  and  book-keeping  ?  " 

"  Why,  Katie,  what  new  spirit  has  possessed 
you  ? "  asked  Mrs.  Bancroft,  too  much  pleased 
to  even  laugh  at  Katie's  extended  plans. 

"  Nothing  new.  But  Carey  couldn't  have 
learned  languages  so  easily  if  he  hadn't  known 
something  about  grammar ;  and  it  was  geogra- 
phy that  made  him  a  missionary  partly,  and  — 
Mother,  I  believe  one  needs  to  know  every  thing 
to  be  a  good  missionary." 

"  You  can  have  the  books,  certainly ;  but  how 
will  you  find  time  for  all  this,  Katie  ? " 

Katie  flushed;  for  "I  haven't  time"  had  been 
one  of  her  stereotyped  excuses. 

"  I  read  three  novels,  and  crocheted  a  tidy, 
last  month.  I  can  do  my  sewing  while  you  are 
talking  in  the  evening ;  and  I  can  give  up  my 
walks,  if  necessary." 

"  If  you  have  really  consecrated  yourself  — 
your  health,  strength,  and  all  —  to  God,  you 
must  preserve  them  for  his  work :  so  I  shall  not 
let  you  give  up  your  walks.  You  shall  have  all 


62 


OUR  GOLD-MINE. 


the  books  you  need,  and  all  the  help  I  can  give 
you." 

The  next  morning,  when  the  morning's  work 
was  done,  Ida  was  surprised  to  find  a  slate-pen- 
cil instead  of  a  crochet-needle  between  Katie's 
fingers. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

JUDSON    AND    BURMAH. 

|T  is  often  easier  to  yield  up  our  whole 
future  lives  to  God  than  to  give  him 
the  present  moment.  Many  give  up 
every  thing  for  Christ's  cause  in  their  prayers, 
who  hesitate  when  asked  to  give  up  some  one 
thing  in  their  practice. 

Katie  knew  something  about  this  one  morn- 
ing the  next  week,  when,  for  the  first  time,  she 
had  gathered  all  her  books  around  her,  arranged 
her  desk  to  suit  her,  and  had  nothing  else  to  do 
but  to  study.  It  was  really  as  much  a  part  of 
Christ's  work  as  if  her  grammar  had  been  San- 
scrit, or  the  figures  which  looked  up  discoura- 
gingly  from  her  slate  had  been  the  inquiring  faces 
of  Hindoos  or  Burmans.  Indeed,  these  studies 
were  a  part  of  the  greater  work  she  had  planned 
so  often,  or  she  would  not  have  undertaken 

63 


64  -OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

them  ;  but  dreaming  is  easier  than  figuring,  and 
Katie  had  practised  the  former  to  perfection, 
while  she  had  quite  neglected  the  latter. 

She  persevered  patiently,  until  she  came  to 
one  of  those  sums  which  neither  patience  nor 
perseverance  can  conquer,  unless  aided  by  nat- 
ural mathematical  talent;  and  Katie  had  none 
of  this  to  aid  her,  —  none  in  her  own  brain,  at 
least;  and  there  was  not  much  comfort  in  know- 
ing that  there  was  plenty  of  it  in  a  head  just 
visible  in  the  next  room,  bending  over  a  comic 
almanac. 

The  almanac  was  thrown  aside  in  a  few 
minutes  ;  and  Walter  passed  through  the  dining- 
room,  pausing  at  Katie's  desk. 

"What's  up  now?" 

"Noth" —  Katie  did  not  finish  the  word. 
Truthfulness  (which  was  natural  to  her)  and 
humility  (for  which  she  had  prayed)  were  strug- 
gling with  pride. 

It  is  a  very  easy  thing,  usually,  to  sacrifice 
selfishness  on  the  altar  of  pride.  If  Katie  had 
been  asked  to  help  Walter,  she  would  have  done 
it,  and  enjoyed  doing  it,  and  perhaps  congratu- 
lated herself  on  the  Christian  spirit  this  showed ; 
but  receiving  a  favor  from  him  was  another 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  65 

affair.  Yet  she  had  prayed  earnestly,  the  night 
before,  that  her  spirit  might  be  made  like  that 
humble,  fervent  spirit  of  which  she  had  just 
heard,  and  that  she  might  bow  all  her  own 
private  feelings  to  the  work  before  her. 

Truthfulness  conquered  in  a  moment. 

"  Here  is  a  sum  I  can't  do,"  she  answered 
just  as- Walter  was  turning  away.  "  I  don't  see 
how  anybody  can  tell  what  was  lost  by  the 
wreck  of  a  ship,  without  knowing  how  much 
she  was  worth  to  begin  with." 

"  I  do,"  said  Walter,  glancing  at  the  book, 
seizing  the  slate,  and  moving  the  pencil  rapidly 
over  it.  In  a  few  moments  the  work  was  done, 
the  slate  left  on  her  desk,  and  Walter  was  out 
of  the  room. 

"  Yes,  Walter  could  do  it  as  easily  as  nothing, 
and  I  could  not  do  it  at  all ;  and  I  suppose  he 
despises  me  for  it,"  Katie  said  to  herself,  never 
dreaming  that  Walter  was  at  that  moment 
thinking,  that,  in  receiving  the  favor  from  him, 
Katie  had  done  something  he  could  not,  and 
that;  on  the  whole,  he  admired  her  for  it. 

*While  Walter  was  figuring  for  Katie,  Ida 
passed  through  the  room,  looked  toward  them, 
but  said  nothing. 


66  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"Katie  is  really  growing  more  practical,  in 
spite  of  spending 'her  evenings  in  India,"  she 
remarked  afterwards  to  her  sister. 

"  Say,  rather,  because  of  it,"  Mrs.  Bancroft 
replied. 

And  Ida  gave  no  answer,  but,  when  evening 
came,  herself  called  the  children  together  to  lis- 
ten while  Mrs.  Bancroft  continued  the  story :  — 

"  You  remember,  on  the  map  of  the  Eastern 
hemisphere,  how  the  Bay  of  Bengal  juts  up 
into  the  southern  coast  of  Asia,  making  it  look 
as  if  it  was  bordered  with  badly  made  tape- 
trimming.  At  the  head  of  the  bay  is  Bengal ; 
on  its  east  coast,  Orissa  and  Madras;  on  its 
western  side,  Burmah. 

"  Beautiful  with  rocks  and  valleys  and  moun- 
tain-ranges, with  flowers  and  palms  and  banyans, 
rich  in  metals  and  gems  and  fruits  and  costly 
woods,  abounding  still  more  in  the  treasures 
sought  by  scientific  students,  in  the  raw  material 
of  geology,  botany,  and  ethnology,  Burmah  has 
seemed  for  centuries  to  offer  a  perpetual  card 
of  invitation  to  the  world ;  yet  she  has.  had 
few  visitors,  and  to-day  has  hardly  an  intimate 
acquaintance. 

"  In  her  temples,  no  Brahmans  trample  upon 


OUR  GOLD-MfNE.  67 

human  souls.  No  caste,  compelling  even  the 
kind-hearted  to  be  cruel,  distorts  her  society.' 
Her  sacred  rivers  roll  innocently  to  the  sea. 
Her  hills,  glistening  with  white  pagodas,  bear 
no  blood-stains.  A  few  plantain-leaves  or  a 
little  fruit  may  be  offered  to  Gaudama ;  but  he 
is  better  served  by  acts  of  kindness,  and  gifts  to 
the  needy.  In  her  cities,  Chinese,  Burmans, 
Talings,  and  Malays  dwell  together  as  peaceably, 
at  least,  as  they  would  in  America.  No  drunk- 
ards stagger  in  her  streets.  No  oaths  defile 
her  air." 

"  Pardon  the  interruption ;  but  it  strikes  me  it 
would  hardly  be  amiss  for  her  to  send  missiona- 
ries to  America,"  suggested  Clarence.  "Bur- 
mah  must  be  the  paradise  of  the  world." 

"  No  doubt  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were  greatly 
improved  by  the  society  they  found  there,"  said 
Walter  gravely. 

"  Negatives,  however  multiplied,  cannot  make 
a  paradise,"  replied  Mrs.  Bancroft.  "The  Bur- 
mans  are  Buddhists.  But,  whatever  we  may 
think  of  the  Buddha  who  died  in  Hindostan 
twenty-four  centuries  ago,  we  cannot  afford  to 
spare  much'  reverence  for  the  Budda  now  wor- 
shipped under  the  name  of  Gaudama  in  Bur- 


68  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

mah, —  a  being  innumerable  leagues  in  height, 
who,  a  moment  after  his  birth,  called  out 
with  the  voice  of  a  lion,  'I  am  chief  of  the 
world ! '  who,  at  five  months,  sat  on  the  air 
without  support,  split  a  hair  with  his  arrow 
at  the  distance  of  ten  miles,  and,  if  it  suited 
him,  tumbled  mountains  and  islands  around 
promiscuously,  and  shook  ten  thousand  worlds, 
merely  for  the  fun  of  the  thing.  He  passed, 
in  all,  through  25,600,000  transmigrations.  It 
is  as  certain  that  he  was  a  fox  as  that  he 
was  a  man.  The  very  place  where  he  scratched 
as  a  cock  can  be  shown.  In  his  last  state 
he  remembered  all  that  happened  in  the  pre- 
vious ones.  He  has  entered  Nigban  now, 
where  he  is  free  alike  from  pain  and  pleasure, 
where  '  there  is  neither  being  nor  nothing.' 
But  there  is  to  be  another  Buddha :  there  may 
be  many  others.  And  somewhere,  in  some 
shape,  all  the  Buddhas  that  are  to  be  are  in  the 
universe  now  ;  no  one  can  tell  where  :  so  all 
life,  whether  of  man,  tiger,  or  mosquito,  is 
sacred.  And  there  are  priests  who  will  not 
sit  down  without  first  carefully  brushing  their 
seat,  lest  they  might  accidentally  crush  some 
insect ;  for  who  could  tell  but  the  meanest 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  69 

worm  might  contain  the  soul  of  some  future 
Buddha? 

"  The  masses  could  not  be  expected  to  be  as 
careful,  however  ;  and,  since  none  of  them  could 
reasonably  expect  to  go  through  life  without 
being  the  means  of  some  scores  of  murders, 
many  do  not  hesitate  to  add  to  the  list.  Fish- 
ermen, and  even  butchers,  are  found  among 
them.  The  superannuated  horse  was  not  often 
killed  ;  but  he  was  left  to  starve.  The  sacred 
ox  might  be  inhumanly  beaten  ;  and  men  con- 
victed of  theft  or  robbery,  or  even  less  crimes, 
might  lose  hands  or  eyes  or  ears  in  the  most 
barbarous  manner  possible. 

"  Even  the  gifts  to  the  poor,  and  the  deeds  of 
kindness,  which  make  a  part  of  their  religion, 
are  done  merely  as  acts  of  merit,  and  are  usual- 
ly received  without  gratitude.  Or  perhaps  the 
recipient  thinks  he  does  his  benefactor  a  favor 
in  allowing  him  thus  to  add  to  his  treasures  in 
the  next  world.  Robberies  are  common  ;  though 
perhaps  not  more  so  than  they  would  be  here, 
if  our  houses  were  equally  easy  of  access.  Di- 
vorces are  obtained  as  easily  as  our  most  ad- 
vanced reformers  would  wish,  and  society  suffers 
accordingly.  Gambling  and  lying  are  almost 
universal. 


yo  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  Schools  are  common :  but  you  would  laugh 
if  you  could  see  one,  or  rather  before  you  saw 
it ;  for,  long  before  you  reached  the  schoolhouse, 
you  might  hear  the  yellow-robed  priest  calling 
off  letters  or  words  from  the  blackboard,  and 
the  whole  school  repeating  after  him  in  concert. 
In  this  way,  it  would  take  a  child  about  three 
years  to  learn  to  read.  Yet  almost  every  one 
learns  :  it  would  be  hard  to  tell  why  ;  for,  when 
the  missionaries  came,  young  Burmah  had  hard- 
ly any  thing  to  read  except  public  documents, 
considerably  less  interesting  to  him  than  Acts 
of  Congress  would  be  to  young  America. 

"  They  have  a  Bible,  the  Tripitika  "  — 

"  Tell  me  about  it,  if  you  please,  madam," 
interrupted  Clarence.  "I  am  about  undertak- 
ing a  course  of  reading ;  and  I  thought  I  should 
commence  with  the  Bibles  of  the  world,  and 
take  the  sacred  books  of  the  Buddhists  first." 

"  Shall  you  read  them  '  on  your  bended  knees,' 
as  Mr.  Emerson  directs  ? "  inquired  Walter, 
guessing  where  Clarence  borrowed  his  idea  of 
a  course  of  reading. 

"  You  would  bid  fair  to  become  as  stiff  as  a 
Hindoo  saint,  if  you  did,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft. 
"  It  is  in  several  thousand  volumes  ;  and  few  of 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  71 

them  have  been  translated.  But  I  will  read 
you  a  specimen  from  one :  — 

" '  Om.  Salutation  to  all  Buddhas,  Bodhisatt- 
vas,  Aryas,  Sravakas,  and  Pratyeka  Buddhas  of 
all  times,  past,  present,  and  future,  who  are 
adored  throughout  the  farthest  limits  of  the  ten 
quarters  of  the  globe.  Thus  hath  it  been  heard 
by  me,  that  once  on  a  time  Bhajavat  sojourned 
in  the  garden  of  Anathapindada,  at  Getavana  in 
Sravasti,  accompanied  by  a  venerable  body  of 
twelve  thousand  Bhikshukas.  There  likewise 
accompanied  him  thirty-two  thousand  Bodhisatt- 
vas,  all  linked  together  by  unity  of  caste,  and 
perfect  in  the  virtues  of  Paramita,  who  had 
made  their  command  over  Bodhisattva  knowl- 
edge a  pastime,  were  illumined  with  the  light  of 
Bodhisattva  dharanis,  and  were  masters  of  the 
dharanis  themselves  ;  who  were  profound  in 
their  meditations,  all  submissive  to  the  lord  of 
Bodhisattvas,  and  possessed  absolute  control 
over  samadhi,  great  in  self-command,  refulgent 
in  Bodhisattva  forbearance,  and  replete  with 
the  Bodhisattva  element  of  perfection '  "  — 

"  Couldn't  you  wait  till  to-morrow  for  the  rest, 
Clarence  ?  "  asked  Walter. 

"  But  it  isn't  all  like  that,  is  it  ? "  said  Kate. 


72  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"A  great  part  of  it  Among  the  Buddha's 
own  words,  however,  are  some  things  well 
worth  repealing ;  for  example  :  — 

" '  He  who  should  conquer  in  battle  ten  times 
a  hundred  thousand  were  indeed  a  hero;  but 
truly  a  greater  hero  is  he  who  has  but  once 
conquered  himself.' 

" '  Hide  your  good  deeds,  and  confess  before 
the  world  the  sins  you  have  committed.' 

" '  Let  a  man  overcome  anger  by  love,  evil  by 
good,  the  greedy  by  liberality,  the  liar  by  truth.' 

"  '  As  a  solid  rock  is  not  shaken  by  the  wind, 
wise  people  falter  not  amid  blame  and  praise.' 

" '  Let  us  live  happily,  not  hating  those  who 
hate  us.  Let  us  dwell  free  from  hatred  among 
men  who  hate.' 

"Gaudama  admitted  the  existence  of  the 
Brahman  gods  as  spirits ;  and  now  these  spirits, 
under  the  name  of  Nats,  receive  from  the  masses 
a  sort  of  lower  worship.  It  is  thought,  too,  that 
men  may  at  death  become  Nats. 

"  Theatres  are  common  and  greatly  patronized 
in  Burmah  ;  and  I  have  read  translations  of  sev- 
eral plays  acted  there,  in  which  the  Nats  figured 
as  largely,  and  were  treated  with  as  little  rev- 
erence, as  the  gauze  or  mirrored  ghosts  in  a 
theatre  in  New  York. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  73 

"  After  all,  to  most  of  the  people,  the  Buddhist 
worship  is  only  a  ceremony  which  they  do  not 
understand,  but  vaguely  hope  will  somehow  do 
them  good,  —  a  sacrifice  less  to  Gaudama  than 
to  the  universal  conscience. 

"  We  left  the  Judsons  just  entering  Burmah. 
Luther  Rice  had  returned  to  America,  and  was 
going  through  the  country,  kindling  a  hitherto 
unknown  missionary  zeal  among  its  churches ; 
but  of  this  no  tidings  reached  Rangoon. 

"  For  three  long  years  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson 
labored  alone.  For  months,  except  now  and 
then  when  a  sea-captain  called,  they  saw  no 
European  face,  and  heard  their  own  language 
only  from  each  other's  lips.  Together,  alone, 
they  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper.  Around 
them  tinkled  the  silvery  bells  of  pagodas ; 
before  them  passed  the  Buddhist  monks,  bear- 
ing their  bowl's  for  offerings.  Now  and  then, 
along  their  path,  a  funeral-procession,  wound 
its  way,  with  sounds  of  gongs  and  trumpets. 
Women  came,  and  felt  curiously  of  Mrs.  Jud- 
son's  white  hands,  and  handled  her  garments. 
Men  gazed  at  the  '  new  white  foreigner '  as  they 
would  at  a  new  white  elephant,  only  with  much 
less  reverence.  That  was  all.  Day  after  day 


74  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

they  worked  at  Burman  crooks  and  circles 
under  a  teacher  who  knew  no  English,  and 
could  only  tell  them  the  Burman  names  of 
objects  as  they  pointed  at  them.  At  first,  he 
declined  teaching  Mrs.  Judson  ;  it  was  beneath 
his  dignity  to  teach  a  woman :  but  Mr.  Judson's 
wishes  finally  prevailed. 

"  As  soon  as  the  missionaries  had  learned  the 
use  of  their  tongues  in  the  new  language,  they 
began  to  talk  of  Christ. 

" '  Your  religion  is  good  for  you,  and  ours  for 
us.  You  will  be  rewarded  in  your  way,  and  we 
in  ours/  came  the  answer. 

"  Then  Mrs.  Judson  was  taken  sick,  and  had  to 
go  to  Madras  for  three  months  to  save  her  life. 
In  August,  1815,  a  little  baby  came;  but,  after 
eight  months,  God  took  it  again.  Then,  just  as 
Mr.  Judson  had  nearly  finished  a  Burman  tract 
and  a  grammar  of  the  language,  and  had  com- 
menced-translating  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  he 
was  seized  with  severe  pain  in  his  head,  and  his 
eyes  became  so  weak  that  crooks  and  circles 
melted  together  before  him,  and  he  could  not 
even  read  his  English  Bible." 

"  I  should  have  given  up,"  said  Charlie. 

"  At  that  very  time  he  wrote  to  Luther  Rice, 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  75 

'  If  a  ship  were  lying  in  the  river,  ready  to  carry 
me  to  any  part  of  the  world  I  should  choose, 
and  that  with  the  entire  approval  of  all  my 
Christian  friends,  I  would  prefer  dying  to 
embarking.' 

"  And  Mrs.  Judson  wrote,  '  God  grant  that  we 
may  live  and  die  among  the  Burmans,  though 
we  should  never  do  any  thing  more  than  smooth 
the  way  for  others.' 

"In  1816  they  received  from  Serampore  a 
present  of  a  printing-press,  and  from  America 
a  man  to  use  it.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hough  were  the 
first  missionaries  sent  out  by  the  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Convention.  A  tract,  a  grammar,  and 
the  first  chapters  of  Matthew,  had  already  been 
translated  :  so  press  and  man  found  immediate 
employment,  and  soon  the  tracts  were  ready  for 
distribution. 

"One  day  in  March,  1817,  as  Mr.  Judson  was 
sitting  with  his  teacher,  there  came  up  the  steps 
a  respectable-looking  Burman,  followed  by  a 
servant. 

" '  Where  do  you  come  from  ? '  asked  Mr. 
Judson. 

"  The  man  gave  no  definite  answer,  but,  be- 
fore long,  surprised  the  missionary  by  the  ques- 


76  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

tion,  '  How  long  time  will  it  take  me  to  learn 
the  religion  of  Jesus  ? ' 

" '  That  question  cannot  be  answered/  said  Mr. 
Judson.  '  If  God  gives  light  and  wisdom,  the 
religion  of  Jesus  is  soon  learned ;  but,  without 
God,  a  man  might  study  his  life  long,  and  make 
no  proficiency.  But  how  came  you  to  know 
any  thing  of  Jesus  ?  Have  you  ever  been  here 
before  ? ' 

" '  No.' 

" '  Have  you  seen  any  writing  concerning 
Jesus  ? ' 

" '  I  have  seen  two  little  books.' 

"'Who  is  Jesus?' 

" '  He  is  the  Son  of  God,  who,  pitying  crea- 
tures, came  into  this  world,  and  suffered  death 
in  their  stead.' 

" '  Who  is  God  ? ' 

"  He  is  a  being  without  beginning  or  end, 
who  is  not  subject  to  old  age  and  death,  but 
always  is.' 

"  Mr.  Judson  handed  him  a  tract  and  cate- 
chism. He  recognized  them  both,  and  read 
here  and  there  in  them,  remarking  to  his  fol- 
lower, '  This  is  the  true  God ;  this  is  the  right 
way.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  77 

"  Mr.  Judson  tried  to  talk  with  him  ;  but  he 
seemed  only  to  care  to  get  another  book.  Mr. 
Judson  told  him  he  had  no  other,  but  was  busy 
translating  one,  which  he  should  have  before 
long. 

"  '  But  have  you  not  a  little  of  that  book  done 
which  you  will  graciously  give  me  now  ? '  per- 
sisted the  inquirer. 

"  So  Judson  folded  and  gave  him  the  first  five 
chapters  of  Matthew ;  and  the  man  went  away." 

"Did  he  ever  become  a  Christian?"  asked 
Edith. 

"I  do  not  know  that  he  did.  Three  weeks 
later,  they  heard  that  he  read  their  books  all 
day,  and  showed  them  to  all  who  called  on  him. 
A  year  later  they  met  him.  He  had  been  made 
ruler  of  a  cluster  of  villages  in  Pegu.  He  still 
read  the  books,  recommended  the  tract  to  his 
servants,  and  asked  Mr.  Judson  to  preach  to  his 
people.  Probably,  fear  of  persecution  kept  him 
back." 

"  A  rather  discouraging  sign  for  the  future," 
remarked  Charlie.  . 

"  To  one  who  knows  he  is  doing  God's  work 
in  God's  way,  all  signs  are  signs  of  promise. 
This  first  inquirer  proved  that  the  Burman 


78  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

mind  was  not  impenetrable,  as  it  had  seemed ; 
and  Mr.  Judson  saw  in  him  a  call  for  more 
workers." 

"  And  we  sent  them  two,"  interrupted  grand- 
pa. "  I  only  wish  you  could  have  seen  Coleman 
and  Wheelock,  —  perfect  gentlemen,  and  real 
workers.  They  began  with  the  sailors  as  soon 
as  they  stepped  on  board  ship ;  and  six  or  seven 
were  converted  before  they  reached  Calcutta. 
But  Wheelock  lived  only  one  year,  and  Coleman 
two." 

"  What  a  pity  they  started  !  "  said  Clarence. 

"  I  don't  know.  We're  apt,  when  our  friends 
die,  to  be  glad  if  we've  let  them  have  what  they 
wanted  :  and,  if  a  man's  hungry  for  missionary 
work,  I  don't  know  why  he  shouldn't  be  grati- 
fied just  as  much  as  if  he's  hungry  for  oranges  ; 
and  Coleman  and  Wheelock  were  just  that. 
They  begged  to  be  made  missionaries  as  an- 
other man  would  beg  to  be  made  governor.  '  I 
had  rather  be  a  missionary  of  the  cross  than  a 
king  on  his  throne,'  Wheelock  wrote  ;  and  Cole- 
man, '  Never  did  a  man  famishing  with  hunger 
partake  of  food  with  more  satisfaction  than  we 
beheld  the  shores  of  Burmah  ; '  and  Mrs.  Whee- 
lock added,  '  Nothing  would  be  more  dreadful 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  79 

than  the  thought  of  returning  to  my  native 
land.'" 

"Well,  tastes  differ,"  said  Clarence,  taking 
advantage  of  one  of  those  safe  refuges  that  are 
open  alike  to  all  disputants. 

"  I  was  going  to  tell  how  Ward  visited  us, 
and  then  Mrs.  Judson,  and  how  we  sent  out  Dr. 
Price  ;  but  I  guess  it's  mother's  turn  now." 

"  Br.  Price  —  was  he  a  D.D.  when  he  start- 
ed ? "  asked  Walter  with  suddenly  awakened 
interest. 

"  No,  a  medical  man :  such  can  do  some 
things  better  than  anybody  else.  Now,  moth- 
er." 

"The  first  thing  to  be  done  after  Coleman 
and  Wheelock  landed  was  to  build  a  meeting- 
house, or,  as  they  called  it,  a  zayat.  The  first 
public  worship  was  held  there  on  the  4th  of 
April,  1819.  On  the  25th,  it  was  permanently 
opened  for  public  instruction  in  religion  ;  and  for 
a  week  inquirers  -came  and  went  as  plentifully 
as,  and  with  about  the  same  spirit  with  which, 
inquirers  would  visit  a  Buddhist  priest,  should 
one  set  up  a  similar  edifice  by  the  wayside  in 
New  York  or  Philadelphia. 

"  It  is  late  now.  Next  week  we  will  spend  a 
while  with  Judson  in  his  new  quarters." 


8o 


OUR  GOLD-MINE. 


"  What's  the  matter  with  Walter  ? "  said  Katie 
after  the  circle  had  broken  up.  "  He  has  hardly 
said  a  word  all  the  evening." 

"  And  what  made  him  wake  up  so  suddenly 
when  grandpa  spoke  of  Dr.  Price  ? "  asked 
Edith. 

Because  the  mother's  eye  had  caught  some- 
thing which  awakened  hopes  she  dared  not 
express,  she  only  gave  the  answer,  —  almost 
always  a  safe  one,  —  "I  don't  know." 


.       CHAPTER  V. 

THE    FIRST    BURMAN    CHRISTIANS. 

OW,  Miss  Ida,  if  I  had  about  three 
yards  of  your  strongest  twine,  I  would 
finish  my  derrick." 

Ida  did  not  doubt  the  truth  of  Walter's  state- 
ment ;  but,  as  she  could  not  see  that  the  world 
would  be  any  the  better  for  the  completion  of  a 
five-foot  derrick,  she  made  no  answer. 

"  Please  ?  "  said  Charlie  inquiringly. 

"It  is  up  stairs  ;  and  I  am  too  busy  to  go  for 
it." 

"  Let  us  go." 

"  You  would  disarrange  things." 

About  two  minutes'  silence,  and  Charlie  mut- 
tered, "  Let's  try  Kate." 

Kate  sat  with  slate  and  pencil  in  hand.  A 
few  mornings  of  earnest  work  had  done  wonders 
in  collecting  and  arranging  the  ideas  that  had 

Si 


82  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

been  promiscuously  scattered  into  her  brain 
during  her  school-days ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  her 
studies,  she  had 'very  cheerfully  accepted  the 
interruption  of  the  missionary  talks  for  a  few 
evenings.  She  was  very  busy  when  the  boys 
burst  in  upon  her. 

"  How's  Sir  Isaac  to-day  ? "  Sir  Isaac  was  the 
most  recent  of  the  thousand  and  one  names  by 
which  Walter  designated  Katie. 

Katie's  brow  knit  a  little.  She  was  afraid  of 
losing  track  of  her  work. 

"  Could  he  come  down  from  his  calculations 
among  the  clouds  to  provide  a  forlorn  derrick 
with  something  stronger  than  a  mathematical 
line  for  a  cord  ? " 

"  O  Walter !  I  can't  now  "  — 

"  Just  imagine  I'm  a  heathen,  Kate ;  and  then 
it'll  come  easy." 

"  I  can  easily  imagine  it,"  replied  Kate ; 
"but"  — 

"  Then  suppose  you  were  a  missionary,  and 
could  accommodate  the  heathen  that  way." 

Katie  went  up  stairs  without  a  word,  and  re- 
turned with  the  cord.  The  last  two  evenings 
had  convinced  her  that  the  missionary  life  was, 
after  all,  only  doing  daily  among  the  heathen 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  83 

the  very  best  and  kindest  and  most  Christian 
things  one  could.  And  why  should  she  not  do 
them  here  ?  If  not,  she  could  not  there. 

Walter  entered  the  sitting-room,  making  a 
.long  flourish  over  Ida's  head  with  his  cord. 

"  If  I  had  nothing  nearer  than  India  to  occu- 
py my  mind,  I  could  afford  to  be  as  obliging  as 
Katie,"  Ida  replied  a  little  tartly.  "  I  hope  to 
make  my  life  of  some  practical  use." 

"  What  have  you  got  to  do  now  ? "  asked 
Charlie. 

"  What  have  you  got  to  do  ?  "  was  a  question 
Ida  was  always  ready  to  answer. 

"  First  I  must  finish  an  apron  for  Mrs. 
Keith's  baby ;  then  I  must  make  some  broth  for 
Widow  Lane ;  then  I  told  Mr.  Parsons  I  would 
make  arrangements  for  the  Sunday-school  meet- 
ing (poor  man,  the  people  take  hold  so  poorly, 
he  is  almost  discouraged)  ;  then  I  have  two 
flounces  to  bind,  and  a  watch-case  to  finish ; 
then  Minnie  must  have  her  primer  lesson  "  — 

"  Now,  Ida,  I'm  going  to  give  you  a  piece  of 
my  mind,"  interrupted  Walter.  "  Of  course, 
nobody  but  a  heathen  would  hint  that  flounces 
and  watch-cases  aren't  practical ;  but  I  do  pro- 
test, that  if  it's  sensible  to  make  a  bear  of 


84  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

yourself  for  the  sake  of  Sunday  schools,  and  dis- 
couraged ministers,  and  primer  lessons,  here,  it's 
just  as  much  so  to  do  it  for  the  same  things  in 
India ;  and  that  saving  babies  from  the  alliga- 
tors, and  widows  from  the  fire,  is  just  as  practi- 
cal business  as  making  aprons  and  broth  for 
them." 

"  They  don't  burn  widows  arid  kill  babies 
now,"  said  Ida. 

"  Maybe  not.  They  would,  though,  if  every- 
body had  always  been  as  practical  as  you  are." 

The  door  closed. 

Quarrelling  is  wicked  ;  but  if  people  would 
always  go  away  after  it,  and  think  over  what  has 
been  said,  it  might  be  made  quite  useful.  "  Is 
my  life  a  practical  one,  after  all  ?  "  was  the  ques- 
tion which  this  quarrel  forced  upon  Ida  ;  and 
she  thought  about  it  at  intervals,  until  in  the 
evening  she  joined  the  group  gathered  to  listen 
to  the  story  :  — 

"  On  the  ist  of  May,  out  of  the  crowd  that 
were  flocking  past  to  the  great  pagoda  at  the 
end  of  the  road,  there  came  into  the  zayat  a 
young  man  called  Moung  Nau.  He  had  come 
the  day  before,  but  was  too  silent  and  reserved 
to  fbe  counted  as  an  inquirer.  Inquirers,  or 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  85 

rather  questioners,  were  plenty  that  day ;  for  it 
was  Burman  worship  day,  and  some  of  them 
excited  strong  hope.  But  on  the  next  Sunday 
only  one  of  them  all  was  found  in  the  little 
company  of  thirty  that  gathered  to  hear  Mr. 
Judson  preach  ;  and  that  one  was  Moung  Nau. 
Most  of  the  audience  were  restless  and  thought- 
less :  he  was  quiet  and  attentive.  Day  after 
day,  he  came  steadily ;  while  others  came,  satis- 
fied their  curiosity  about  the  strange  teacher, 
and  went  away,  not  to  return. 

"At  last  Mr.  Judson  began  to  hope  that 
Moung  Nau  was  really  a  Christian.  '  It  seems 
almost  too  much  to  believe  that  God  has  begun 
to  manifest  his  grace  to  the  Burmans,'  he  writes 
in  his  journal  of  May  5  ;  '  but  this  day  I  could 
not  resist  the  delightful  conviction  that  this  is 
indeed  the  case.  PRAISE  AND  GLORY  BE  TO  HIS 

NAME    FOREVERMORE.       AMEN.' 

"  On  May  8"  he  writes,  '  Burman  day  of  wor- 
ship. Thronged  with  visitors  through  the  day. 
Moung  Nau  was  with  me  a  great  part  of  the 
day,  and  assisted  me  much  in  explaining  things 
to  new-comers.' 

"  MAY  9.  — 'Only  two  or  three  of  all  I  con- 
versed with  yesterday  came  again.  Had,  how- 


86  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

ever,  an  assembly  of  thirty.  In  the  course  of 
conversation,  Moung  Nau  declared  himself  a  dis- 
ciple of  Christ  in  the  presence  of  a  considera- 
ble number.' 

"MAY  ii.  — '  Heard  much  to-day  of  the  dan- 
ger of  introducing  a  new  religion.  Those  who 
seemed  most  favorably  disposed  whispered  me 
that  I  had  better  not  stay  in  Rangoon  and  talk 
to  the  common  people,  but  go  directly  to  the 
"  Lord  of  life  and  death."  If  he  approved  of 
the  religion,  it  would  spread  rapidly;  but,  in  the 
present  state  of  things,  nobody  would  dare  to 
prosecute  inquiries.' 

"  MAY  15.  — '  Moung  Nau  has  been  with  me  all 
day,  as  well  as  yesterday.  He  is  anxious  to  be 
received  into  our  company,  and  thinks  it  a  great 
privilege  to  be  the  first  among  the  Burmans  in 
professing  the  religion  of  Christ.' 

"  On  the  6th  of  June  he  sent  to  the  mission- 
aries, of  his  own  accord,  a  letter,  telling  of  his 
faith  in  Christ,  giving  a  clear  view  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  asking  baptism. 

"  Two  weeks  later,  before  the  sleepy  eyes  of  a 
stone  Gaudama  who  kept  guard  over  the  arti- 
ficial pond  near  by,  the  first  Burman  convert 
was  baptized. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  87 

"Perhaps  it  was  well  for  the  early  Burman 
converts  that  the  god  they  had  worshipped  had 
always  been  entirely  indifferent  to  the  question 
whether  he  was  worshipped  or  not. 

"  But,  though  Gaudama  would  never  trouble 
himself  about  their  defection,  there  stood  always 
before  them  the  nearer  terror,  —  the  viceroy,  the 
woongyee,  the  emperor ;  for  this  thing  must 
some  time  reach  the  golden  ears  ;  and  what 
right  had  a  subject,  a  slave,  to  think  differently 
from  the  '  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  '  ?  Then 
there  were  stories  of  a  sect  of  Buddhists  that 
had  been  suppressed  by  the  sword  ;  of  a  Catho- 
lic convert  beaten  till  his  body  was  one  livid 
wound :  and  filling  the  air  around  them  were 
the  Nats,  wild,  roving  spirits,  true  descendants 
of  the  discrowned  Brahman  gods  ;  there  was  no 
telling  what  uncanny  things  they  might  do.  So 
it  was  not  a  light  thing  for  the  poor  young  work- 
man, Moung  Nau,  to  stand  alone,  a  Christian  in 
a  nation  of  Buddhists,  following  that  other  poor 
young  workman,  who,  eighteen  hundred  years 
before,  stood  alone  in  Palestine. 

"  Meanwhile  '  the  immortal  king,  wearied  with 
the  fatigues  of  royalty,  had  gone  up  to  amuse 
himself  in  the  celestial  regions,'  or,  in  plain 


88  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

English  (it  would  have  been  a  crime  to  hint  the 
thing  in  Burman),  had  died.  His  body  had 
been  burned  on  a  pile  of  perfumed  wood 
anointed  with  costly  oils ;  his  ashes  collected 
in  an  urn,  and  buried  in  the  royal  cemetery ;  his 
grandson  seated  on  his  throne  ;  his  brother  and 
other  troublesome  relatives  tucked  into  red 
sacks,  and  respectfully  drowned  ;  and  the  em- 
pire was  running  on  as  before. 

"  Inquirers  came  and  went ;  hopes  rose  and 
fell.  Sometimes  the  little  zayat  would,  be 
crowded ;  sometimes  almost  deserted.  Often 
Burmans  would  come  for  days  in  succession,  and 
appear  fully  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity, 
when  some  rumor  of  probable  persecution  would 
drive  them  away,  not  to  return.  Sometimes  one 
who  appeared  to  be  an  inquirer  would  turn  out 
to  be  a  Buddhist  priest,  or  a  bitter  reviler  of 
religion.  Often  a  listener,  convinced,  but  not 
converted,  would  turn  away  with  the  remark, 
'  Superior  wisdom  compels  me  to  bow ; '  and 
there  his  inquiries  would  end. 

"  But  there  were  some  who  showed  they  had 
begun  to  feel  that  hunger  for  which  Buddhism 
offers  no  food.  Among  these  were  Moung 
Byaa,  Moung  Thalah,  Moung  Ing,  and  Moung 


OUR   GOLD-MINE  89 

Shwa-gnong.  Moung  Thalah  was  an  interest- 
ing young  man,  a  quick  thinker,  and  ready 
talker.  Moung  Byaa  was  a  member  of  Mrs. 
Judson's  school.  These  two  were  soon  received 
into  the  church  ;  and  Mr.  Judson  writes  :  — 

"Nov.  14.  —  'Lord's  Day.  Have  been  much 
gratified  to  find  that  this  evening  the  three  con- 
verts repaired  to  the  zayat,  and  held  a  prayer- 
meeting  of  their  own  accord.' 

"  Buddhism  was  not  all  that  Judson  had  to  con- 
tend with..  Atheism,  like  pauperism  and  idiocy, 
is  found  everywhere.  Types  of  religion,  like 
forms  of  wealth  and  learning,  vary,  and  make 
men  vary  ;  but  the  absolutely  lacking  are  essen- 
tially the  same  in  Burmah  and  in  Boston.  Why 
this  fact  should  furnish  ground  of  boasting,  I 
am  unable  to  see ;  but  in  Burmah,  at  least,  there 
is  no  prouder  set  of  men  than  those  who  have 
abjured  the  gods  their  neighbors  worship,  and 
taken  nothing  in  their  place.  Judson  found  no 
bitterer  opponents.  Having  no  lines  of  belief 
to  defend,  they  had  the  same  advantage  in  dis- 
cussion that  the  guerilla  has  over  the  ordinary 
soldier  in  warfare.  All  the  arguments  directed 
against  idolatry  were  powerless  against  them. 
The  Buddha  was  to  them  only  a  man;  Buddh- 


90  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

ism,  a  useful  lie.  They  believed  in  the  eternity 
of  wisdom,  but  not  in  a  being  eternally  wise. 
Beyond  this,  they  believed  nothing  ;  and  gener- 
ally their  belief  in  the  eternal  wisdom  did  not 
prevent  their  following  the  dictates  of  temporal 
wisdom,  so  far  as  to  bow  before  pagodas,  and 
make  offerings  to  Gaudama. 

"A  leader  and"  teacher  in  one  of  these  sects 
was  Moung  Shwa-gnong.  He  first  came  to  the 
zayat  Aug.  26,  1819.  Tall,  strong  mentally  and 
physically,  a  man  of  commanding  influence,  and 
a  frequent  visitor,  I  suspect  his  image  haunted 
Mr.  Judson's  dreams  by  night,  and  his  thoughts 
by  day,  for  some  time  afterward.  '  Oh  that  he 
may  be  brought  in  ! '  Mr.  Judson  writes  Sept. 
19,  'if  it  be  not  too  great  a  favor  for  this  infant 
mission  to  receive.' 

"  At  first  he  seemed  to  argue  rather  with  the 
idea  of  silencing  or  converting  Mr.  Judson  than 
of  being  converted  by  him  ;  but  in  time  he  grew 
more  seriously  interested.  Finally  he  admitted 
the  existence  of  an  eternal  God. 

"Then  there  spread  through  the  Buddhist 
ranks,  and  reached  those  ears  that  were  hearing- 
trumpets  for  the  golden  ears,  a  whisper  that 
Moung  Shwa-gnong  was  going  over  to  the 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  91 

foreign  religion.  '  Inquire  further/  said  the 
viceroy  ;  and  the  words  sent  terror  to  the  hearts 
of  Christians  and  inquirers,  and  especially  of 
Moung  Shwa-gnong.  He  went  to  the  Mangen 
teacher  who  had  accused  him,  and  apologized 
and  explained  and  flattered,  and  somehow  satis- 
fied him. 

"Meanwhile  a  poor  fisherman,  Moung  Ing, 
joined  the  circle  of  inquirers,  and  before  long 
professed  himself  a  believer.  'Thus,'  writes 
Mr.  Judson,  'the  poor  fisherman  Moung  Ing  is 
taken,  and  the  learned  teacher  Moung  Shwa- 
gnong  left.' 

"  Moung  Shwa-gnong  called  soon  after  ;  but 
his  call  was  short  and  formal.  The  rest  deserted 
the  zayat  entirely.  Mr.  Judson  sat  there  for  days 
together  without  a  single  visitor.  Curiosity- 
hunters  no  longer  wished  to  come  ;  inquirers 
dared  not.  One  morning,  as  Mr.  Judson  took 
his  usual  ride  through  the  grounds  of  the  great 
pagoda,  he  was  met  by  the  Mangen  teacher, 
with  an  order  from  the  viceroy  that  he  must 
ride  there  no  more  under  pain  of  being  beaten, 
—  a  circumstance  trifling  in  itself,  but  important 
as  a  straw  showing  the  state  of  the  wind. 

"  Aside  from  the  abandonment  of  the  work 


92  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

(which  they  did  not  even  think  of),  but  one 
course  seemed  to  open  before  the  missionaries, 
—  they  must  go  themselves  to  the  capital,  and 
present  their  cause  to  the  emperor. 

"Before  they  left,  they  received  another  visit 
from  Moung  Shwa-gnong.  Hours  passed  in  dis- 
cussing his  deistical  cavils  ;  but  finally  he  owned 
that  he  did  not  believe  any  thing  he  had  said, 
but  had  been  merely  trying  the  strength  of  Mr. 
Judson  and  his  religion. 

"  Later  in  the  day,  when  he  and  the  missionary 
were  alone,  he  said,  '  This  day  is  different  from 
all  the  days  on  which  I  have  visited  you.  I  see 
now  my  error  in  trusting  in  my  owri  reason.  I 
now  believe  in  the  crucifixion  of  Christ  (a  point 
concerning  which  he  had  been  especially  incred- 
ulous), because  it  is  contained  in  the  Scripture.' 

"  Some  time  after,  he  said,  '  I  think  I  should 
not  be  lost,  though  I  should  die  suddenly.' 

" '  Why  not  ? '  asked  Mr.  Judson. 

" '  Because  I  love  Christ.' 

"  '  Do  you  really  love  him  ? ' 

" '  No  one  that  knows  him  can  help  loving 
him.' 

"  And  so  he  departed. 

"  They  saw  little  more  of  him  till  just  as  they 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  93 

were  pushing  off  from  Rangoon,  when  they 
caught  a  glimpse  of  his  tall  form  standing  on 
the  wharf,  waving  them  adieu  with  his  hand. 

"  Up  the  Irrawacli,  for  a  full  month,  the  mis- 
sionaries sailed,  with  the  hope,  that  if  they  could 
reach  Ava,  present  themselves  at  the  golden 
feet,  and  gain  audience  of  the  golden  ears,  they 
could  secure  religious  toleration.  They  saw  the 
king  ;  but  their  hopes  were  wholly  disappointed. 
God  did  not  mean  that  his  infant  cause  in  Bur- 
mah  should  be  rocked  by  royal  fingers. 

" '  In  regard  to  the  objects  of  your  petition, 
his  Majesty  gives  no  order;  in  regard  to  your 
sacred  books,  bis  Majesty  has  no  use  for  them  ; 
take  them  away/  was  their  final  answer ;  and 
they  went  out  of  the  palace  with  much  less  hin- 
derance  than  they  had  entered  it. 

"  They  were  far  worse  off  than  if  they  had  not 
come.  Their  defeat  would  be  known  at  Ran- 
goon ;  and,  if  people  had  feared  to  inquire  when 
royal  protection  was  merely  doubtful,  what  could 
be  expected  now  that  it  was  definitely  withheld  ? 

"  At  Pyee,  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  from 
the  capital,  they  met  Moung  Shwa-gnong,  on  a 
visit  to  an  old  acquaintance  dangerously  ill. 
Mr.  Judson  told  him  every  thing,  —  the  repulse 


94  OUR  GOLF-MINE. 

at  court,  the  entire  failure  of  the  expedition,  the 
certainty  that  persecution  lay  before  them  ;  and 
closed  with  the  story  of  the  Catholic  convert, 
years  before,  beaten  almost  to  death  with  the 
iron  mall. 

"  Moung  Shwa-gnong  was  not  frightened : 
on  the  contrary,  he  expressed  himself  rather 
too  bravely  for  the  circumstances. 

" '  It  is  not  for  you  that  we  are  concerned,' 
said  Mr.  Judson,  '  but  for  those  who  have  pro- 
fessed Christ.  When  they  are  accused,  they 
cannot  worship  at  the  pagodas,  nor  recant  before 
the  Mangen  teacher.' 

"  Moung  Shwa-gnong  felt  the.  force  of  this 
reflection,  and  tried  to  explain. 

"  '  Say  nothing,'  said  Mr.  Judson.  '  One  thing 
you  know,  that,  when  formerly  accused,  if  you 
had  not  in  some  way  or  other  satisfied  the  mind 
of  the  Mangen  teacher,  your  life  would  not  now 
be  remaining  in  your  body.' 

" '  Then,'  said  he,  '  if  I  must  die,  I  shall  die  in 
a  good  cause.  I  know  it  is  the  cause  of  truth. 
I  believe,'  he  added  emphatically,  '  in  the  eternal 
God,  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  atonement 
which  Christ  has  made,  and  in  the  writings  of 
the  apostles  as  the  true  and  only  word  of  God. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  95 

Perhaps  you  may  not  remember,  that,  during  my 
last  visits,  you  told  me  I  was  trusting  in  my  own 
reason  rather  than  in  the  word  of  God.  Since 
then  I  have  seen  my  error,  and  endeavored  to 
renounce  it.  You  explained  to  me,  also,  the  evil 
of  worshipping  at  pagodas,  though  I  told  you 
my  heart  did  not  partake  in  the  worship.  Since 
you  left  Rangoon,  I  have  not  lifted  up  my  folded 
hands  before  a  pagoda.  Now  you  say  that  I  am 
not  a  disciple.  What  lack  I  yet  ? ' 

"  '  Teacher,'  replied  Mr.  Judson,  'you  may  be  a 
disciple  at  heart ;  but  you  are  not  a  full  disciple. 
You  have  not  faith  and  resolution  enough  to 
keep  all  the  commands  of  Christ,  particularly 
that  which  requires  you  to  be  baptized,  though  in 
the  face  of  persecution  and  death.' 

"  Moung  Shwa-gnong  heard  this  in  silence. 
He  evidently  had  something  to  think  about. 
Soon  after,  Mr.  Judson  hinted  that  the  missiona- 
ries might  be  obliged  to  leave  Rangoon. 

"  This  roused  him.  '  Say  not  so,'  he  said. 
'  There  are  some  who  will  investigate,  notwith- 
standing ;  and,  rather  than  have  you  quit  Ran- 
goon, I  will  go  myself  to  the  Mangen  teacher, 
and  have  a  public  dispute  with  him.  I  know 
the  truth  is  on  my  side.' 


96  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  Ah ! '  said  Mr.  Judson,  '  you  may  have  a 
tongue  to  silence  him  ;  but  he  has  a  pair  of 
fetters  and  an  iron  mall  to  tame  you.  Remem- 
ber that' 

"  Mr.  Judson  belonged  to  that  small  number 
of  men  to  whom  telling  the  exact  truth  is  a  ne- 
cessity. This  made  him  seem  sometimes  harsh, 
even  severe ;  but  perhaps  this  very  severity, 
which  so  often  marks  his  dealings  with  inquirers, 
saved  the  early  Burman  church  from  those  dis- 
tressing cases  of  discipline  which  are  the  saddest 
and  most  frequent  trial  alike  of  missionaries 
and  pastors. 

"A  wakeful  night  followed  this  talk  with 
Moung  Shwa-gnong.  Could  they  leave  to  eter- 
nal darkness  souls  already  asking  for  light  ?  On 
the  other  hand,  could  they  stand  by  and  en- 
courage their  disciples  in  the  face  of  infernal  tor- 
tures, and  even  of  death  ?  Might  not  their  own 
flesh  fail  when  their  turn  came  to  endure  them  ? 
And  could  they  hope,  that,  when  the  result  of 
the  visit  to  the  palace  was  known,  even  one  of 
the  three  baptized  would  remain  firm  ?  About 
these  subjects  they  talked  till  midnight,  and 
thought  till  nearly  morning. 

"They  reached  Rangoon  on  Friday.     On  Sun- 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  97 

day  they  called  the  three  disciples  together,  and 
gave  them  a  full  account  of  the  affair.  To  the 
joy  of  the  missionaries,  instead  of  being  intimi- 
dated, they  vied  with  each  other  in  expressing 
their  love  to  Christ,  and  devotion  to  his  cause. 

" '  But  whither  are  the  teachers  going  ? '  they 
asked,  when  Mr.  Judson  spoke  of  leaving  Ran- 
goon. 

"  Mr.  Judson  told  them  of  Chittagong,  where 
the  death  of  an  English  missionary  had  left  a 
band  of  native  Christians  as  sheep  without  a 
shepherd.  It  was  there  that  the  teachers  meant 
to  go. 

" '  And  what  will  you  do  ? '  they  asked  the 
disciples. 

"Moung  Nau  had  already  said  he  should  fol- 
low them  to  any  part  of  the  world. 

" '  As  for  me,  I  go  where  preaching  is  to  be 
had,'  said  Moung  Thahla. 

"  Moung  Byaa  was  silent.  He  was  married  ; 
and  no  Burman  woman  could  be  allowed  to  leave 
the  country. 

"'  But  if  I  must  be  left  here  alone,'  he  said  at 
last,  '  I  shall  remain  performing  the  duties  of 
Jesus  Christ's  religion.  No  other  shall  I  think 
of.' 


98  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  A  few  days  later  he  came  with  his  brother-in- 
low,  Moung  Myatyah,  an  inquirer. 

" '  Teacher,'  said  Moung  Byaa,  '  my  mind  is 
distressed.  I  can  neither  eat  nor  sleep  since  I 
find  you  are  going  away.  I  have  been  around 
among  those  who  live  near  us  ;  and  I  find  some 
who  are  even  now  examining  the  new  religion. 
Do  stay  with  us  a  few  months.  Stay  till  there 
are  eight  or  ten  disciples  ;  then  appoint  one  to 
be  the  teacher  of  the  rest.  I  shall  not  be  con- 
cerned about  the  event.  The  religion  will  spread 
of  itself.  The  emperor  cannot  stop  it.' 

"  In  the  same  way  spoke  the  rest.  Soon  fresh 
inquirers  made  the  path  of  duty  plain.  Yet 
Chittagong  ought  not  to  be  neglected  :  so  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Coleman  went  there,  while  the  Judsons 
remained  at  Rangoon. 

"  And  now  Moung  '  Shwa-gnong  commenced 
the  sober  business  of  undoing  the  work  of  his 
past  life.  '  I  know  nothing,'  he  would  say  to 
those  who  had  looked  up  to  him  as  infallible. 
1  If  you  want  true  wisdom,  go  to  the  foreign 
teacher,  and  you  will  find  it.' 

"  He  gave  this  advice  to  Mali  Menla,  a  woman, 
who,  in  mind,  was  among  Burman  women  what 
Moung  Shwa-gnong  himself  was  among  men. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  99 

Two  years  before,  she  had  met  with  a  tract 
which  gave  her  some  idea  of  an  eternal  God. 
Before  long  she  joyfully  received  Christ  'I  am 
surprised,'  she  said,  '  to  find  this  religion  has 
such  an  effect  upon  my  mind  as  to  make  me 
love  Christ  more  than  my  dearest  natural  rela- 
tives.' 

"  Before  July  1 7,  five  more  had  been  baptized, 
among  them  Moung  Shwa-ba,  who  soon  felt 
called  to  preach ;  but.  Moung  Shwa-gnong  and 
Mali  Menla  were  not  among  them,  and  Moung 
Shwa-gnong  had  for  some  time  been  missing 
from  the  zayat. 

"  And  now  Mrs.  Judson's  illness  compelled  a 
voyage  to  Calcutta.  Just  before  they  started, 
the  teacher  made  his  appearance.  Mr.  Judson 
received  him  with  some  reserve,  but  soon  found 
he  had  staid  away  from  illness,  not  from  choice. 
Before  evening,  others  came  in ;  and,  as  if  to 
bring  things  to  a  crisis,  Moung  Shwa-gnong 
said,  '  My  lord  teacher,  there' are  now  several  of 
us  present  who  have  long  considered  this  re- 
ligion. I  hope  that  we  are  all  disciples  of 
Christ.' 

"  '  I  am  afraid  to  say  that,'  replied  Mr.  Jud- 
son :  '  however,  it  is  easily  ascertained ;  and  let 


ioo  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

me  begin  with  you,  teacher.  I  have  heretofore 
thought  that  you  fully  believed  in  the  eternal 
God  ;  but  I  have  'had  some  doubt  whether  you 
fully  believed  in  the  Son  of  God  and  the  atone- 
ment which  he  has  made.' 

"  '  I  assure  you/  Moung  Shwa-gnong  replied, 
'  that  I  am  as  fully  persuaded  of  the  latter  as  of 
the  former.' 

" '  Do  you  believe,  then,  that  none  but  the 
disciples  of  'Christ  will  be  saved  from  sin  and 
hell?' 

"  '  None  but  his  disciples.' 

"  '  How,  then,  can  you  remain  without  taking 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  be- 
coming his  full  disciple  in  body  and  soul  ? ' 

" '  It  is  my  earnest  desire  to  do  so  by  receiv- 
ing baptism  ;  and  for  the  very  purpose  of  ex- 
pressing that  desire  I  have  come  here  to-day.' 

" '  You  say  you  are  desirous  of  receiving  bap- 
tism :  may  I  ask  when  you  desire  to  receive 
it  ? ' 

" '  At  any  time  you  will  please  to  give  it. 
Now,  this  moment,  if  you  please.' 

" '  Do  you  wish  to  receive  baptism  in  public, 
or  in  private  ? ' 

"  '  I  will  receive  it  at  any  time,  and  under  any 
circumstances  you  may  please  to  direct.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  101 

" '  Teacher,'  said  Mr.  Judson,  '  I  am  satisfied, 
from  your  conversation  this  forenoon,  that  you 
are  a  true  disciple  ;  and  I  reply,  therefore,  that 
I  am  as  desirous  of  giving  you  baptism  as  you 
are  of  receiving  it.' 

"  Mr.  Judson  then  questioned  Moung  Thahla. 

"'If  the  teacher,  Moung  Shwa-gnong,  con- 
sents,' he  said,  '  why  should  I  hesitate  ? ' 

"  '  And,  if  he  does  not  consent,  what  then  ? ' 

" '  I  must  wait  a  little  longer.' 

"  '  Stand  by,'  said  Mr.  Judson.  '  You  trust  in 
Moung  Shwa-gnong  rather  than  in  Jesus  Christ. 
You  are  not  worthy  of  being  baptized.' 

"  The  other  men  were  still  farther  from  com- 
mitting themselves.  Mah  Menla  said  with 
some  hesitation,  that  she  desired  baptism,  if  Mr. 
Judson  thought  it  suitable.  But  Mr.  Judson 
replied  that  he  could  not  baptize  any  one  who 
could  possibly  remain  easy  without. 

"  Moung  Shwa-gnong  was  joyfully  received 
by  the  church  ;  and  a  day  later,  just  at  night,  he 
was  baptized. 

"  '  Ah  !  he  has  gone  to  obey  the  command  of 
Christ,  while  I  remain  without  obeying.  I  shall 
not  be  able  to  sleep  to-night.  I  must  go  home 
and  consult  my  husband,  and  return.' 


102  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"About  nine  o'clock  she  returned,  and  re- 
quested baptism.  Late  at  night,  by  lantern- 
light,  Mr.  Judson  led  her  out  to  a  pond  near  the 
house,  and  baptized  her. 

"The  next  day  the  Judsons  embarked  for 
Calcutta.  On  their  return,  more  than  five 
months  later,  they  found  every  convert  firm,  and 
rejoicing  to  see  them. 

"  Moung  Shwa-gnong  was  not  disappointed  in 
his  expectation  of  persecution.  Up  to  the  time 
of  his  baptism,  his  acquaintances  had  not 
thought  it  a  possible  thing  that  the  great  teach- 
er would  allow  himself  to  be  put  under  water  by 
a  foreigner.  When  the  fact  was  known,  all  the 
priests  and  officers  of  the  village  where  he  lived 
entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  destroy  him.  They 
held  daily  consultations.  At  length  one  of 
them  sounded  the  viceroy  with  the  complaint, 
'  Moung  Shwa-gnong  is  doing  every  thing  in 
his  power  to  turn  the  priests'  rice-pot  bottom 
upwards.' 

"  '  What  consequence  ? '  answered  the  vice- 
roy. '  Let  the  priests  turn  it  back  again  ; '  and 
the  hopes  of  the  conspiracy  were  blasted. 

"  Soon  the  fisherman  Moung  Ing,  the  second 
convert,  and  Mah  Myatlah,  were  added  to  the 
church. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  103 

"On  the  2 ist  of  August,  Mrs.  Judson  was 
compelled,  by  rapidly  declining  health,  to  leave 
Burmah  for  England  and  America.  In  Decem- 
ber, Dr.  Price  arrived  from  America.  Very  soon 
the  fame  of  his  skill  reached  Ava,  now  the  capi- 
tal. All  articles  of  especial  value  discovered  in 
the  Burman  Empire  are  at  once  appropriated  by 
the  king.  Dr.  Price  was  sent  for.  There  were 
now  eighteen  converts  at  Rangoon,  all  active 
workers.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hough  could  take  care 
of  the  mission  there  till  more  help  should  arrive. 
Mr.  Judson  decided  to  accompany  Dr.  Price  to 
Ava,  and,  if  the  apparent  opening  proved  a  real 
one,  remain  with  him. 

"  It  was  not  until  the  fourth  day  from  their 
arrival,  after  he  had  had  several  conversations 
with  Dr.  Price,  that  his  Majesty  noticed  Mr. 
Judson. 

"  '  And  you  in  black,  what  are  you  ?  A  medi- 
cal man,  too  ? '  he  asked. 

" '  Not  a  medical  man,  but  a  teacher  of  reli- 
gion, your  Majesty.'  The  king  made  a  few  in- 
quiries about  the  religion;  and  then  asked  the 
alarming  question,  '  Have  any  embraced  it  ? " 

" '  Not  here.' 

" '  Are  there  any  at  Rangoon  ? ' 


104  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  There  are  a  few.' 

" '  Are  they  foreigners  ? ' 

"  I  think,  from  a  passage  in  his  journal,  that, 
even  to  Mr.  Judson's  mind,  there  occurred  the 
possibility  of  evading  this  question ;  but  the 
temptation,  if  it  came,  left  unharbored. 

" '  There  are  some  foreigners  and  some  Bur- 
mans,'  he  replied. 

"  The  king  was  at  first  silent,  but  evidently 
not  displeased ;  for  he  soon  began  again  to  ask 
questions  on  religion,  geography,  and  astronomy. 

"  For  three  months  Mr.  Judson  remained  at 
Ava,  now  discussing  natural  sciences  with  the 
royal  family,  now  laboring  with  court  officials  to 
gain  permission  to  occupy  a  piece  of  land  with 
a  mission-house,  but  pressing  the  claims  of 
God  and  religion  upon  his  noble  listeners  as 
earnestly  and  fearlessly  as  he  had  pressed  them 
upon  the  fishermen  and  lumberers  of  Rangoon. 

"  In  January,  1823,  he  gained  the  desired  per; 
mission,  and  sailed  for  Rangoon.  In  August 
he  completed  the  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, in  the  version  of  which  he  had  been  aided 
by  Moung  Shwa-gnong.  In  December  he  wel- 
comed back  Mrs.  Judson. 

"Mr.   and   Mrs.   Wade   sailed   with   her.     A 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  105 

week  after  they  reached  Rangoon,  Mrs.  Judson 
was  packed  with  her  husband  and  all  her  goods 
into  a  little  boat,  and  sailing  for  Ava. 

"  On  their  way  they  met  the  Burman  general, 
Bandula,  with  a  fleet  of  war-boats  ready  to  in- 
vade the  British  province  of  Chittagong,  bear- 
ing with  him,  it  was  said,  golden  fetters  with 
which  to  bind  Lord  Amherst,  and  orders,  after 
taking  Calcutta,  to  march  on  and  capture  Lon- 
don. This  was  only  one  of  many  affronts  that 
'  the  lord  of  land  and  water '  had  offered  to  the  in- 
significant little  island  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  the 
insults  had  been  received  in  'a  manner  which 
the  Burman  king  could  explain  in  but  one  way, 
—  the  English  were  afraid  of  him.  He  was 
satisfied  that  it  would  not  be  a  difficult  thing  for 
his  invincible  army  to  conquer  British  India,  or 
even  England  itself. 

"  When  the  Judsons  reached  Ava,  they  found 
all  interest  concentrating  upon  the  approaching 
war,  Dr.  Price  no  longer  in  favor,  and  a  shadow 
of  suspicion  resting  upon  all  foreign  residents." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN    PRISON. 

ECOND  childhood  is  often  as  beautiful 
as  first.  When  the  world  is  thoroughly 
civilized  and  Christianized,  I  think  we 
shall  hear  of  the  adoption  of  homeless  old  men 
into  families  as  grandfathers,  as  we  now  hear  of 
the  adoption  of  infants  as  children  and  grand- 
children ;  and  people  will  watch  the  man  who  is 
ripening  into  an  angel  with  the  same  interest 
and  tenderness  they  now  give  the  child  who  is 
ripening  into  a  man. 

Every  thing  has  to  make  way  for  an  old  man 
as  for  a  baby ;  but,  in  a  well-regulated  household, 
things  are  much  more  flexible  than  they  are 
generally  supposed  to  be.  Grandpa  Sears  had 
not  been  in  the  house  two  weeks,  before  it  was 
as  natural  to  Katie  to  place  his  chair  by  the  fire, 
and  shake  up  his  cushion,  and  comb  his  thick 
1 06 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  107 

white  hair,  and  dust  his  room,  and  in  a  thousand 
ways  keep  a  half-motherly,  half-daughterly  watch 
over  him,  as  to  carry  on  her  studies. 

And  in  many  ways  grandpa  Sears  helped. 
The  frequent  spectacle  and  hat-and-cane  hunts 
were  excellent  discipline  for  the  children.  The 
many  ways  in  which  even  little  Minnie  had  to 
yield  her  way  to  grandpa  were  teaching  her 
unselfishness,  very  much  as  a  new  baby  would 
have  done ;  only  there  was  no  one  to  incur  the 
risk  the  last  baby  always  runs  of  being  spoiled 
itself  while  endeavoring  to  educate  other  people. 
And  then  grandpa  had  lived  when  missions  be- 
gan ;  and  the  early  missionary  histories,  which, 
in  Katie's  mind,  had  ranked  with  those  of  the 
crusades  or  the  Reformation,  grew  real  and 
present  as  she  talked  with  him,  and  her  mis- 
sionary zeal  kindled  more  than  ever. 

But  missionary  zeal  was  no  longer  a  thing  to 
be  laid  on  the  shelf  for  future  use.  "  To  do  the 
best  and  kindest  things  I  can  to  everybody  here, 
or  in  India,  or  anywhere  else,"  was  a  definition 
of  the  missionary  work  that  was  rapidly  working 
its  way  into  Katie's  daily  life.  And  it  was  sur- 
prising how  much  more  interesting  every  thing 
around  her  became  in  consequence,  —  her  Sun- 


lo8  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

day-school  class,  her  neighbors,  Ida's  pet  widows 
and  babies  and  sick  people,  the  children  of  the 
family,  everybody. 

And,  while  Katie  was  learning  that  there  were 
souls  to  save  here  as  well  as  in  India,  Ida  was 
beginning  to  see,  that,  as  God  looked  at  things, 
the  importance  of  any  particular  field  of  labor 
did  not  depend  upon  the  fact  that  she  was  in  it, 
and  that  a  work  that  would  be  practical  where 
she  lived  might  not  be  wholly  visionary  ten 
thousand  miles  away.  She  said  little  ;  but  that 
little  signified  so  much,  that  it  was  no  surprise, 
when  on  the  next  missionary  evening,  which 
came  this  time  after  three  weeks'  delay,  she 
herself  placed  the  chairs,  and  called  the  group 
together  to  listen  to  Mrs.  Bancroft's  story. 

"  We  left  Bandula  on  his  way  to  Chittagong. 
The  British  soon  heard  of  their  approaching 
guest,  and  resolved  to  return  the  call  before  it 
was  made.  Suddenly  a  British  fleet  appeared 
before  Rangoon.  Orders  were  given  by  the 
Burman  officers  for  the  arrest,  and,  in  case  of 
firing,  the  immediate  execution,  of  every  man  in 
Rangoon  wearing  a  hat.  Messrs.  Hough-  and 
Wade  were  thrust,  with  others,  into  prison, 
where  they  waited  the  firing  of  the  gun  that 


OUR  GOLD-MTNE.  109 

should  be  their  death-signal.  The  sand  was 
Spread  that  should  drink  their  blood,  and  the 
guard  were  sharpening  with  bricks  their  weap- 
ons of  death,  when  the  attack  began,  and  the 
first  ball  came  flying  directly  over  their  heads. 
Others  followed.  Panic-struck,  the  guard  fled, 
too  anxious  for  their  own  lives  to  take  those  of 
their  prisoners.  Soon  came  a  pause  in  the  fir- 
ing, and  a  moment  of  hope  for  the  missionaries. 
Then  fifty  Burmans  rushed  in,  seized  the  prison- 
ers, bound  them  tightly  with  cords,  drove  them 
at  the  point  of  their  spears  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, bent  forward  their  bodies  ;  and  the  spotted- 
faced  executioner  stood  ready,  waiting  the  word 
to  strike.  The  command  was  given.  Mr.  Hough 
alone  knew  enough  of  the  language  to  understand 
it.  He  turned,  and  begged  the  Yawoon  to  let 
him  go  to  the  British  fleet  and  try  to  persuade 
them  to  stop  firing.  Then  there  came  another 
shower  of  shot  and  shell,  and  the  crowd,  Yawoon 
and  all,  fled,  driving  the  prisoners,  still  tightly 
chained,  before  them  for  a  mile  and  a  half.  Their 
wives  had  passed  a  sleepless  night  at  the  mis- 
sion-house, cheered  only  by.  the  presence  and 
prayers  of  Moung  Shwa-ba,  who  remained  with 
them.  In  the  morning  they  went  out;  and  now, 


no  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

disguised  by  blackened  faces  and  Burman  dress, 
they  stood  by  the  wayside,  and  saw  their  hus- 
bands driven  past  to  die.  When  the  fugitives 
halted,  Mr.  Hough  renewed  his  petition.  It  was 
granted,  but  with  the  threat,  that,  if  he  failed  to 
stop  the  firing,  all  the  prisoners  would  be  in- 
stantly killed.  He  went ;  but  the  firing  did  not 
cease.  Through  the  night  Mr.  Wade  lay  on  the 
ground,  in  a  dungeon  near  the  great  pagoda, 
without  food  or  drink,  almost  without  clothing, 
his  ankles  galled  with  unwieldy  iron  chains, 
waiting  hour  by  hour  the  summons  to  death. 
With  the  morning  came  the  British  troops. 
Rangoon  was  captured,  and  the  prisoners  re- 
leased. Soon  fever  took  up  the  work  in  which 
the  Burmans  had  failed.  Thousands  of  British 
soldiers  fell  victims.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wade  were 
among  the  sufferers.  As  soon  as  they  could 
endure  the  journey,  they  went  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hough  to  Bengal,  where  they  remained  till  the 
close  of  the  war." 

"  And  where  were  the  Judsons  ? "  asked  Edith. 

"  With  Dr.  Price  at  Ava.  The  news  of  the 
capture  reached  the  capital  in  about  two  weeks. 
Suspicion  at  once  fell  upon  all  foreign  residents. 
The  missionaries  were  arrested  with  others  as 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  ill 

spies  ;  and,  within  three  months  from  their  arri- 
val, the  men  who  had  come  to  Ava  by  the  royal 
invitation,  were,  by  the  royal  command,  strung 
upon  a  bamboo  pole,  manacled  each  with  three 
pair  of  fetters,  and  thrust  with  seventy  others 
into  the  darkest  and  filthiest  of  Burman  prisons." 

"  But  you  can't '  think  how  often  we  asked, 
'  Where  are  the  Judsons  ? '  "  interrupted  grand- 
father. "  How  we  watched  and  waited  and  waited, 
and  almost  fought  for  the  first  look  at  the  maga- 
zine, and  then  dropped  it,  half  uncut,  when  we 
found  there  was  no  news  all  those  months  after 
Mr.  Hough  wrote  about  the  attack  on  Rangoon. 
You  can't  know  any  thing  about  it  unless  "  — 
the  old  man  looked  at  Mrs.  Bancroft,  and  his 
voice  grew  softer —  "  you  have  watched  for  let- 
ters from  some  one  in  the  army  or  on  the  sea 
that  never  came  back.  It  was  most  like  that." 

"  Now,"  resumed  Mrs.  Bancroft,  "  for  twenty- 
one  months  we  find  Mr.  Judson  and  Dr.  Price 
prisoners  of  the  Burmans  ;  for  seven  months  in 
the  Ava  death-prison,  a  part  of  the  time  crowded 
with  more  than  a  hundred  others  —  English, 
Portuguese,  and  Burmans,  political  enemies  of 
the  king,  state  officers  in  disgrace,  thieves,  cut- 
throats, deserters,  English  soldiers,  innocent 


112  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

victims,  villains  of  every  dye  —  into  a  single 
unventilated  room,  under  the  care  of  a  jailer 
called  by  the  Burmans  '  the  tiger-cat/  and  bear- 
ing the  brand  of  loothat  (murderer)  upon  his 
breast,  to  whose  mind  human  torture  furnished 
the  most  enjoyable  of  pastimes ;  then  driven  six 
miles  in  shackles  over  burning  sands,  where 
every  step  left  blood-tracks ;  then  for  seven 
months  at  Oung-pen-la,  at  first  in  -a  roofless 
shanty,  whose  condition  testified  to  the  truth  of 
the  report,  that  they  were  sent  there  to  be  burned 
as  a  sacrifice. 

"  Once  at  nightfall,  while  they  were  in  the 
death-prison,  there  spread  among  the  prisoners  a 
rumor,  that,  at  three  in  the  morning,  they  were 
all  to  be  executed.  The  hour  drew  near.  Mr. 
Judson  prayed  audibly  for  them  all ;  then  each 
prayed  silently.  Still  there  was  no  stir.  The 
hour  passed.  It  must  have  passed,  they  felt, 
though  they  had  no  means  of  knowing  the  time. 
Soon  their  comic  jailer  opened  the  door,  and 
showed  them  what  they  already  suspected,  —  it 
was  morning.  They  spoke  to  him  of  the  rumor. 

"  *  Oh,  no  !  I  could  not  spare  my  dear  children 
yet,  just  after  having  taken  so  much  care  to  pro- 
vide them  with  fitting  ornaments ; '  and,  as  he 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  ,  113 

spoke,  he  kicked  the  bamboo  pole  to  which  they 
were  fastened,  till  the  five  pair  of  fetters  of  each 
clanked  together,  grinding  the  cringing  flesh 
between  them. 

"  Nearly  every  day  for  the  first  five  months, 
Mrs.  Judson  might  be  seen,  dressed  in  saffron 
vest  and  rich  silken  skirt  (for  she  had  adopted 
the  Burman  dress  to  please  the  natives),  walking 
the  two  miles  from  her  house  to  the  prison,  bear- 
ing food  or  clothing  for  the  prisoners.  Nearly 
every  day  she  visited  the  palace,  and  talked  with 
members  of  the  royal  family,  hoping  through 
them  to  influence  the  king.  But  day  after  day 
brought  news  of  English  success  ;  and,  while 
that  continued,  whoever  spoke  a  kind  word  for  a 
prisoner  to  his  Majesty  must  do  it  at  the  peril 
of  his  life.  Sometimes  she  was  forbidden  to 
see  her  husband :  then  they  corresponded  by 
means  of  tiles,  on  which  the  writing  was  invisi- 
ble when  wet,  but  became  legible  again  after 
drying ;  or  by  slips  of  paper  inserted  in  the  long 
nose  of  the  pot  in  which  she  sent  his  tea.  Some- 
times she  could  see  him  only  in  the  evening; 
then  she  walked  the  long  two  miles  back  to  her 
house  alone,  after  dark. 

"  At  one  time  she  heard  that  her  house  was 


114  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

to  be  searched.  She  decided  to  secrete  her  sil- 
ver and  various  other  little  articles,  —  a  desper- 
ate .expedient ;  for  their  discovery  might  mean 
death.  But  to  be  without  these  things  must 
mean  starvation:  so  she  carried  out  her  plan, 
though  with  much  trembling.  The  still  more 
precious  manuscript  of  the  Burman  New  Testa- 
ment, completed  just  before  they  left  Rangoon, 
she  had  already  sewed  up  in  a  pillow  so  hard 
that  even  a  Burman  could  not  covet  it,  and  com- 
mitted it  to  Mr.  Judson's  keeping. 

"  The  officers  saw  her  agitation,  and  apologized 
for  the  work  they  were  about  to  do. 

" '  Where  are  your  silver,  gold,  and  jewels  ? ' 
asked  the  royal  treasurer. 

"'  I  have  no  gold  or  jewels,'  Mrs.  Judson  an- 
swered :  'but  here  is  the  key  of  the  trunk  which 
contains  the  silver ;  do  with  it  as  you  please.' 

"The  trunk  was  produced,  and  the  silver 
weighed. 

"'This  money,'  said  Mrs.  Judson,  'was  col- 
lected in  America  from  the  disciples  of  Christ, 
and  sent  here  for  the  purpose  of  building  a 
kyoung,  and  for  our'  support  while  teaching  the 
religion  of  Christ.  Is  it  suitable  that  you  should 
take  it  ? ' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  115 

" '  We  will  state  this  circumstance  to  the  king, 
and  perhaps  he  will  restore  it/  said  one  of  them. 
'  But  is  this  all  the  silver  you  have  ? ' 

"  She  could  not  tell  a  lie.  '  The  house  is  in 
your  possession;  search  for  yourselves,'  she 
answered. 

" '  Have  you  not  deposited  silver  with  some 
person  of  your  acquaintance  ? ' 

" '  My  acquaintances  are  all  in  prison.  With 
whom  should  I  deposit  silver  ? ' 

"  Trunks  and  drawers  were  examined,  and 
various  articles  taken  from  them  ;  but  the  things 
Mrs.  Judson  had  secreted  were  not  discovered. 
These  served  as  a  source  of  supply  for  the  con- 
stant demands  of  hunger,  pity,  and  Burman 
officials,  during  the  long  months  that  followed. 
Her  clothing  she  saved  by  representing  that  it 
would  be  a  disgrace  to  present  articles  partly 
worn  before  the  king. 

"  After  five  months  Mrs.  Judson  was  allowed 
to  build  a  little  bamboo  room  within  the  prison 
enclosure,  and  sometimes  to  spend  two  or  three 
hours  there  with  her  husband.  Then  for  a  time 
she  ceased  to  come  entirely  ;  and,  when  next  the 
chained  prisoner  crawled  forward  to  meet  her, 
he  found  with  her  a  little  wailing,  blue-eyed 
babe,  born  twenty  days  before. 


Il6  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

* 

"  Mrs.  Judson  reached  Oung-pen-la  a  few  hours 
after  the  arrival  of  the  prisoners,  having  followed 
with  her  babe  on  a  Burmese  cart,  —  a  vehicle 
which  would  be  counted  among  instruments  of 
torture,  if  it  were  not  a  common  mode  of  con- 
veyance. 

"  The  next  morning,  Moung  Ing,  walking  past 
the  prison,  saw  on  the  ground  a  hard  roll  of  cot- 
ton, picked  it  up,  and  carried  it  home  as  a  relic 
of  the  missionaries.  It  was  the  inside  of  Dr. 
Judson's  pillow,  which  his  keepers  had  restored 
to  him  in  exchange  for  a  better  one  after  its  first 
capture,  and  had  robbed  of  its  covering,  and 
thrown  away  when  he  was  driven  from  the  prison 
the  day  before.  In  it,  months  later,  was  found 
the  Burmese  New  Testament,  unharmed. 

"  Before  this,  Bandula  had  been  called  back  to 
Burmah,  had  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  main 
army,  had  fought,  been  defeated,  and  finally 
died.  The  Pakanwoon,  who  had  been  disgraced 
and  imprisoned,  offered  to  take  his  place,  and 
conquer  the  English.  His  offer  was  accepted  ; 
and  one  of  his  first  orders  was  for  the  removal 
and  death  of  the  prisoners  ;  but,  before  it  could 
be  fully  obeyed,  he  was  himself  arrested  for 
treason,  and,  as  a  punishment,  trodden  to  death 
by  elephants. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  117 

"Repeated  English  victories  at  last  led  the 
Burman  king  to  employ  the  missionaries  in  nego- 
tiating terms  of  peace.  When  finally  the  Eng- 
lish terms  were  accepted,  we  find  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Judson,  still  weak  from  fever,  sailing  down  the 
Irrawadi  to  the  English  camp. 

"  The  English  officers  received  them  with  the 
greatest  honor.  Every  possible  attention  was 
shown  Mrs.  Judson,  much  to  the  surprise  and 
alarm  of  the  Burmans.  Dr.  Judson  tells  of  one 
time  particularly,  when  a  grand  dinner  was 
given  in  the  British  camp,  at  which  the  Burman 
commissioners  were  guests.  Mrs.  Judson  came 
in,  leaning  upon  Gen.  Campbell's  arm.  The 
Burman  officers  turned  pale,  with  chagrin  and 
fear. 

'"Those  seem  to  be  old  acquaintances  of 
yours,'  remarked  the  general ;  '  and,  from  their 
appearance,  I  judge  you  must  have  used  them 
very  badly.  Who  is  yonder  owner  of  the 
pointed  beard  ? ' 

"  Then  Mrs.  Judson  told  how  —  when  she  had 
walked  miles  to  his  house  to  ask  a  favor,  which 
he  roughly  refused  her,  and  was  obliged  to  walk 
back  again  under  a  burning  sun  —  he  took  from 
her  her  only  umbrella,  a  silk  one,  and  made 


Il8  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

sport  of  her  request  for  its  return,  or  at  least  a 
paper  one  in  exchange. 

"  The  Burman  officer  knew  not  a  word  of  Eng- 
lish ;  but  conscience  and  memory  were  active 
interpreters.  In  vain  Mrs.  Judson  told  him 
softly  in  Burman  that  he  had  nothing  to  fear. 
The  best  efforts  of  the  conquerors  to  put  him 
and  his  companions  at  their  ease  utterly  failed 
for  that  day.  Mr.  Judson  said  afterwards,  '  I 
never  thought  I  was  over  and  above  vindictive  ; 
but  really  it  was  one  of  the  richest  scenes  I  ever 
saw.' " 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  remarked  Walter,  "  that  if 
the  members  of  the  council  that  refused  admit- 
tance to  Marshman  and  Ward  in  1799,  and  ex- 
pelled Judson  and  Newell  in  1812,  could  have 
been  there,  it  would  have  been  rather  a  rich 
scene  to  them  too." 

"  They  would  hardly  have  enjoyed  seeing  the 
missionaries  made  the  especial  favorites  of 
the  East  India  Company's  officers,  more  than 
the  Burmans  did.  But  times  had  changed.  -Dr. 
Judson  had  done  very  much  for  both  Burmah 
and  England  in  those  last  weeks  of  the  war, 
and  his  services, were  appreciated.  Both  govern- 
ments wished  to  avail  themselves  of  them  for 


OUR  COLD-MINE.  119 

the  future.  The  offer  of  the  Burmans  he  de- 
clined ;  but  he  consented  to  accompany  Dr. 
Crawford  in  an  expedition  to  Ava,  hoping  there- 
by to  gain  religious  toleratiorrin  Burmah. 

"  He  was  gone  nearly  seven  months ;  and, 
when  he  returned,  she  whose  almost  super- 
human labors  had  saved  his  life  through  the 
years  of  his  imprisonment  was  at  rest  beneath 
the  hopia-tree  in  Amherst.  In  a  few  weeks  his 
babe  was  buried  by  her  side." 

"  May  I  inquire  what  became  of  the  eighteen 
converted  at  Rangoon  ? "  said  Clarence.  "  It 
seems  the  mission  there  was  not  continued." 

"No;  for  Rangoon  had  been  given  back  to 
Burmah,  and  there  was  no  assurance  of  tolera- 
tion there.  As  every  field  could  not  be  cultivat- 
ed, it  seemed  best  to  choose  the  most  hopeful. 

"  Of  the  eighteen  baptized,  Mah  Myatlah  and 
Moung  Thahlah  had  died  before  the  war. 
Moung  Shwa-gnong  had  died  of  cholera  just 
after  its  close,  and  before  he  could  join  the  mis- 
sionaries. Of  his  record  during  those  two  years 
they  learned  nothing ;  but  seven  years  later,  as 
the  Rangoon  assistants  passed  up  the  river,  they 
found  at  his  home  ten  interesting  inquirers,  who 
had  gained  their  knowledge  of  Christianity 


120  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

wholly  from  Moung  Shwa-gnong,  who,  they 
said,  '  preached  and  exhorted  a  great  deal,  and  at 
one  time  spent  a  whole  day  and  night  talking 
on  the  subject  with  his  neighbors.'  Moung 
Shwa-ba  had  remained  at  the  Rangoon  mission- 
house  through  the  war,  and  with  Moung  Ing, 
Mah  Menla,  and  Mah  Doke,  joined  the  mission- 
aries at  Amherst  Three  others  would  have 
been  glad  to  do  the  same,  but  were  prevented 
by  the  Burman  Government  from  leaving  Ran- 
goon. The  rest  had  died  during  the  war,  or 
been  scattered  into  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
"try." 

"  Where  was  Dr.  Price  ? "  asked  Walter. 

"At  Ava.  He  accepted  an  offer  from  the 
Burman  king,  and  entered  his  service  as  a  phy- 
sician :  there  for  a  year  he  practised  medicine, 
and  lectured  on  astronomy,  bending  his  knowl- 
edge of  both  always  to  the  use  of  religion ;  and 
then,  early  -in  1828,  when  he  seemed  most  use- 
ful, died  of  pulmonary  consumption." 

"  And  the  other  missionaries  ? "  asked  Kate. 

"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wade  reached  Amherst  in 
November,  1826,  a  month  after  Mrs.  Judson's 
death.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boardman,  who  had 
reached  Calcutta  in  December,  1825,  and  re- 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  121 

mained  there  during  the  last  part  of  the  war, 
followed,  but  soon  left  for  Maulmain. 

"  Before  long  it  was  decided  that  Maulmain, 
and  not  Amherst,  should  be  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. The  population  of  Amherst  immediately 
declined,  while  Maulmain,  two  years  before  a 
wild  jungle,  had  more  than  sixteen  thousand  in- 
habitants. Here,  in  the  last  months  of  1827, 
Dr.  Judson  and  the  Wades,  with  some  of  the 
Rangoon  converts,  joined  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Board- 
man." 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE    WILD    MEN. 

jjY  story  to-night  begins  with  what  has 
been  called  '  the  romance  of  missions,'  " 
said  Mrs.  Bancroft,  "  and  I  must  intro- 
duce you  to  a  new  branch  of  our  Eastern  cous- 
ins ;  but  you  will  hardly  see  either  romance  or 
cousins  in  them  at  first. 

"  Among  the  crowds  that  flocked  past  Dr. 
Judson's  zayat  at  Rangoon,  and,  later,  his  way- 
side shed  at  Maulmain,  might  sometimes  be 
seen  a  class  of  men  lighter  in  color  than  the 
Burmans,  and  unlike  them  in  feature  and  dress. 
They  talked  Burman  with  the  Burmese,  but 
among  themselves  spoke  a  strange  language, 
that  neither  Burmans  nor  missionaries  could 
understand.  They  came  into  the  towns  on 
business,  talked  on  little  except  business,,  and 
left  usually  before  nightfall.  They  looked  with 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  123 

indifferent  eyes  upon  gilded  pagodas,  stone 
Gaudamas,  and  yellow-robed  priests  and  gods. 
Priests  and  Burmans  looked  with  equal  indiffer- 
ence upon  them. 

" '  Who  are  they  ? '  Dr.  Judson  asked  the 
Burman  disciples. 

"'Only  wild  jungle  people,'  was  the  answer, 
as  if  wild  jungle  people  were  hardly  people  at 
all. 

"If  you  had  followed  these  men  out  of  the 
town,  you  would  have  seen  them  going  away 
to  the  mountains  and  plains,  entering  little 
villages,  or  clusters  of  long  bamboo  houses, 
built  high  from  the  ground  for  fear  of  wild 
beasts,  and  with  all  manner  of  filth  and  vermin 
beneath  them,  climbing  each  to  his  own  apart- 
ment ;  and  here  at  night  you  may  find  them, 
dirty,  often  drunken,  sometimes  fighting,  yet 
generally  truthful  and  honest.  They  scratch  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  and  raise  grain  enough 
for  their  own  eating,  perhaps  a  little  more,  to 
pay  for  taxes,  or  exchange  for  tools ;  if  not,  they 
borrow  of  the  Burmans,  and  become  their  debt- 
ors, or,  what  in  Burmah  is  about  the  same 
thing,  their  slaves. 

"  Their  houses  have  no  niches  or  shrines  for 


124  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

miniature  Buddhas  ;  but  the  '  spirits '  that  haunt 
all  heathen  and  some  Christian  lands  flock  here 
in  crowds.  They  have  no  priests ;  but  there  are 
clairvoyants  or  prophets  among  them,  who  are 
held  in  highest  reverence,  because  they  can  see 
the  (to  all  others  invisible)  spirits.  True  mon- 
archs  of  the  land  are  these  spirits.  If  sickness 
comes,  the  spirit  whose  seat  is  in  the  back  of  the 
neck  has  left,  and  must  be  made  to  return,  or 
the  sufferer  will  become  the  victim  of  seven 
other  spirits  always  waiting  to  devour,  and  die. 
If  the  paddy  does  not  prosper,  the  spirits  are  to 
blame.  Tigers,  lions,  alligators,  are  incarnate 
spirits.  If  cholera  prevails,  chickens,  or  perhaps 
a  hog,  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  spirits.  If  a 
rooster  crows  in  time  of  pestilence,  his  head 
comes  off,  lest  he  guide  the  malignant  spirits  to 
the  house. 

"That  the  spirits  they  worship,  or  the  medi- 
ums through  whom  they  consult  them,  are  good, 
they  do  not  pretend ;  nor  will  they  deny  that  they 
may  be  closely  connected  with  Satan.  But  they 
have  lost  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  they  evi- 
dently have  not  lost  the  knowledge  of  the  Devil : 
so,  like  St.  Christopher  in  the  legend,  they  serve 
the  stronger." 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  125 

"But  who  are  these  people?  and  where  did 
they  come  from  ?  "  asked  Charlie. 

"  They  are  the  Karens.  Ask  them  their 
history,  and  they  will  tell  you,  that,  long  ago, 
their  ancestors  were  expelled  from  the  north 
country;  that,  led  by  an  inspired  guide,  they 
crossed  the  river  of  sand  ;  that  then  they  had 
books  of  skin,  containing  the  knowledge  of 
God,  but  they  lost  them ;  that  their  fathers  had 
taught  them  that  some  time  the  white  foreigners 
would  come  and  bring  back  again  the  book  of 
God.  What  a  '  book  of  skin  '  is  they  have  not 
the  slightest  idea.  Their  only  books  now  are 
those  the  missionaries  have  given  them  ;  but 
they  will  sing  you  songs  like  these,  which  their 
fathers  have  sung  to  them  for  generations 
back :  — 

" '  God  is  eternal ;  his  life  is  long. 
God  is  immortal;  his  life  is  long. 
One  kalpa,  he  dies  not ; 
Two  kalpas,  he  dies  not. 
He  is  perfect  in  meritorious  attributes  ; 
Kalpas  on  kalpas  he  dies  not.' 


"Or, 


"  '  In  ancient  times  God  created  the  world : 
All  things  were  minutely  ordered  by  him. 


126  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

He  appointed  the  fruit  of  trial ; 

He  gave  minute  orders. 

Satan  deceived  two  persons  : 

He  caused  them  to  eat  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  trial. 

When  they  ate  the  fruit  of  trial 

They  became  subject  to  sickness,  old  age,  and  death.' 

"  Or  perhaps  you  will  hear  words  like  these :  — 

"  '  God  is  not  far  off.  He  is  among  us.  He  has  only 
separated  himself  from  us  by  a  single  thickness  of  white 
cloth.  Children,  it  is  because  men  are  not  upright  that 
they  do  not  see  God.'  " 

"  Very  much  like  the  Bible,"  suggested  Clar- 
ence. 

"  Yes  ;  and  they  have  traditions  of  the  crea- 
tion, the  fall,  the  dispersion,  so  very  much  like 
the  Bible,  that  no  one  can  doubt  that  some  time, 
somewhere,  the  two  currents  of  story  must  have 
come  from  the  same  fountain." 

"  But  where  did  they  separate  ? "  asked  Katie. 
"  at  the  beginning,  or  in  the  days  of  the  Jews, 
or  since  Christ's  time  ? " 

"  That  is  one  of  God's  secrets,  and  probably 
will  always  be  so.  All  we  know  is,  that,  for  gene- 
rations, the  Karens  have  been  a  nation  in  the 
midst  of  idols,  hating  idolatry,  surrounded  and 
conquered  by  Buddhists,  yet  believing  in  an  eter- 
nal God. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  127 

"  Before  the  war,  the  Karens  were  at  the  mercy 
of  the  Burmans.  If  a  Burman  wanted  money 
or  rice  or  work,  or  any  thing  else  that  a  Karen 
had,  he  usually  got  it ;  and  for  this  reason, 
among  others,  the  Karens  chose  their  homes  in 
mountains  and  glens  away  from  the  city.  In 
one  of  these  out-of-the-way  nooks,  about  the 
time  that  young  Carey  began  to  plead  the  cause 
of  the  heathen  in  England,  there  was  born  a 
Karen  boy,  Moung  Thah-byu.  He  made  a  world 
of  trouble  for  his  parents  and  everybody  that 
knew  him  till  he  was  fifteen,  when  he  left  home 
to  become  a  robber  and  murderer.  How  many 
he  had  killed,  or  helped  others  kill,  he  could 
not  tell,  when,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he  en- 
tered Mr.  Hough's  service  at  Rangoon ;  but  it 
was  certainly  not  less  than  thirty. 

"  After  a  while,  Moung  Shwaba  paid  a  debt  for 
him,  and  so  gained  a  right  to  his  services.  He 
had  only  ordinary  talent,  a  diabolical  temper, 
and  no  disposition  to  learn.  Moung  Shwaba 
gave  him  up  in  despair,  and  was  about  sending 
him  away,  when  Dr.  Judson  paid  the  debt-money, 
and  took  the  half-savage  into  the  mission  fam- 
ily. 

"Slowly  this  man  waked  up  to  the  horror  of 


128  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

his  murderous  life,  became  deeply  penitent,  and 
asked  admission  to  the  little  Burman  church.  It 
was  refused'.  The  disciples  saw  that  still  his 
temper  often  gained  the  victory  over  him,  and 
could  not  see,  as  Dr.  Judson  could,  how  ear- 
nestly he  struggled  with  it.  But,  in  a  few 
months  more,  the  change  became  plain  to  all ; 
and  he  was  received  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

"The  missionaries  had  already  seen,  that, 
with  thousands  of  miles  of  unbroken  heathenism 
around  them,  they  could  not  afford  to  concen- 
trate all  their  force  at  Maulmain.  In  the  spring 
of  1828  Mr.  Boardman  went  to  Tavoy.  Moung, 
now  Ko  •  Thah-byu, —  for  he  was  no  longer 
strictly  a  young  man,  —  went  with  him,  and  was 
baptized  there. 

"  And  now,  through  jungles,  over  mountains, 
across  streams,  wading  often  in  water  up  to  the 
armpits,  braving  the  fiercest  opposition  of  the 
elements  and  of  human  hearts,  Ko  Thah-byu 
went,  preaching  among  the  Karen  villages. 
Some  laughed ;  some  said,  '  We  will  hear  you 
when  the  busy  season  is  over ; '  but  some  be- 
lieved ;  and  then  from  lip  to  lip,  and  town  to 
town,  through  Tavoy,  Mergui,.  and  Tenasserim, 
went  the  message,  '  The  white  foreigners  have 
come,  and  brought  the  book  of  God.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  129 

"  Ko  Thah-byu's  first  visit  was  to  a  village 
whose  men  were  busy  planting  on  the  hillside. 
One  who  had  remained  behind  brought  the  mes- 
sage to  the  others,  'A  man  has  come  who 
wants  to  tell  his  genealogy  to  us.'  The  villagers 
came  together;  and  Ko  Thah-byu  preached 
Christ.  One,  the  brother  of  the  chief  of  the 
village,  believed  at  once.  In  time  he  aided  in 
leading  nearly  his  whole  village  to  Christ. 

"  Three  times  he  went  out,  spending  days  or 
weeks  alone  in  the  wilderness.  Then  Mr. 
Boardman  went  with  him.  It  was  not  easy 
work  to  travel  through  almost  impassable  ra- 
vines, among  tiger-haunted  forests,  up  rugged 
mountains,  under  a  burning  sun  ;  lying  at  night, 
it  might  be,  on  the  ground,  in  a  drenching 
rain ;  weary,  sometimes  half  famished.  I  hardly 
think  any  physician  would  recommend  scenes 
like  these  to  a  young  man  already  strongly  in- 
clined to  consumption.  But  when  the  villagers 
brought  out  their  offerings  of  fowls  and  plan- 
tains, and  he  heard  the  words,  '  Ah !  you  have 
come  at  last ;  we  have  been  longing  to  see  you,' 
he  felt  well  paid  for  all. 

"  Numbers  of  the  Karens  applied  for  baptism. 
Thirty- two  were  at  different  times  accepted  and 


130  OUR  GOLD-MINE.      , 

baptized.  Others  Mr.  Boardman  promised  to 
see  again,  and  examine ;  but,  in  the  midst  of  the 
work,  his  strength  failed. 

"Mr.  Mason  reached  Tavoy  in  January,  1831  ; 
and,  accompanied  by  him  and  Mrs.  Boardman, 
Mr.  Boardman  was  carried  on  a  cot  into  the 
jungle  to  fulfil  his  promise. 

" '  The  cause  of  God  is  of  more  importance 
than  my  health,'  he  said,  when  his  wife  saw  how 
fast  he  was  failing,  and  urged  his  returning  before 
the  baptism.  '  Ministers  often  wish  to  die  in  the 
pulpit ;  but  to  die  in  the  pulpit  would  be  nothing 
to  dying  here  in  the  midst  of  the  Lord's  work.' 

"  So,  a  little  before  sunset,  he  lay  on  his  cot  by 
the  water-side,  and  watched  the  entrance  into 
the  visible  church  of  thirty-four  previously 
examined  by  himself,  and  now  baptized  by  Mr. 
Mason.  Two  days  later,  while  on  his  way  home, 
he  entered  the  church  triumphant  in  heaven. 

"  And  now  for  a  year,  while  the  Masons  were 
learning  the  language,  upon  Mrs.  Boardman  and 
Ko  Thah-byu  rested  the  care  of  the  Karen  mis- 
sion. Mrs.  Boardman  received  visits,  and  directed 
inquirers,  at  the  town  :  Ko  Thah-byu  made  visits, 
and  awakened  inquirers,  in  the  jungle. 

"  Mr.  Wade  had  reduced  the  Karen  language 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


'3* 


132  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

to  writing;  and  early  in  1830  Mr.  Bennett,  a  mis- 
sionary printer,  arrived  with  his  wife.  With  him 
came  a  printing-press.  Nothing  could  have  de- 
lighted the  Karens  more  than  the  idea  of  again 
having  books  in  their  own  language.  Every- 
where Ko  Thah-byu  went  he  scattered  tracts,  and 
parts  of  the  Bible  ;  and,  far  into  the  regions  un- 
visited,  the  tracts  seemed  to  scatter  themselves. 
The  young  Karens  were  eager  to  learn.  Ko 
Thah-byu,  too,  learned  to  read ;  but  what  was 
easy  for  them  was  hard  for  him,  and  soon  many 
of  the  young  disciples  were  in  advance  of  him 
in  learning.  He  was  called  to  be  a  pioneer,  and 
he  saw  it.  Leaving  Tavoy,  he  preached  to  the 
Karens  about  Maulmain,  and,  later,  around  Ran- 
goon. From  here  Mr.  Bennett  writes  in  1833, — 
" '  Ko  Thah-byu  complains  that  the  Karens 
throng  his  house  so  that  it  is  breaking  down. 
Crowds  have  all  day  long  been  coming  and 
going;  and  he  has  been  busy  preaching  from 
morning  till  night.  They  are  very  urgent  from 
Bassein  and  Mergui  on  the  south  and  west, 
from  Maubee  and  vicinity  on  the  north,  that  Ko 
Thah-byu  or  some  Karen  teacher  should  come 
and  teach  them  to  read,  and  preach  to  them  the 
gospel.  They  offer  of  their  own  accord  to  build 
zayats  and  schoolhouses.' " 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  133 

"  If  only  a  hundred  missionaries  could  have 
gone  out  among  them  then ! "  said  Kate. 

"  If  only  a  hundred  could  go  out  now ! "  said 
Mrs.  Bancroft. 

"  Where  was  Dr.  Judson  ? "  asked  Charlie. 

"  Doing  a  work  that  no  other  man  could  do, 
—  translating  the  Bible  into  Burman ;  preaching 
meanwhile,  as  he  had  opportunity,  from  a  little 
shed  projected  into  one  of  the  dirtiest,  noisiest 
streets  in  Maulmain. 

"  About  this  time,  in  a  note  signed  simply  '  A 
Missionary,'  he  gave  to  the  Board  six  thousand 
dollars,  his  entire  patrimony." 

"Too  much  of  a  sacrifice,  I  think,"  said 
Charles. 

"  Not  more  than  God  required  of  him,"  said 
Katie. 

"  And  of  us  ?  "  asked  Walter. 

"  I  doubt  if  it  was  any  sacrifice  at  all,"  said 
Mrs.  Bancroft.  "  Where  God's  cause  is  wholly 
our  cause,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  sacrificing 
for  it. 

"In  1830  Dr.  Judson  went  to  Rangoon. 
Here  for  months  Ko  Thaha  had  struggled  to 
keep  together  the  little  Burman  church.  In 
January,  1829,  he  was  ordained  their  pastor. 


134  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

Not  long  after,  Moling  Ing  was  associated  with 
him.  In  this  region  the  Burmans  were  not,  as 
at  Maulmain  and  Tavoy,  held  under  the  paw  of 
the  British  lion ;  and  it  was  a  dangerous  thing  to 
inquire :  still  there  were  inquirers.  '  I  asked 
Pastor  Thaha  to  go  with  me,'  Dr.  Judson  writes 
when  about  starting  up  the  Irrawadi  for  Prome : 
'  but  he  thinks  it  quite  impossible,  on  account  of 
having  so  many  irons  in  the  fire,  —  that  is,  hope- 
ful inquirers  that  he  must  stay  to  bring  forward 
and  baptize ;  and  he  is  as  solicitous  and  busy  as 
a  hen  pressing  about  her  chickens.  It  is  quite 
refreshing  to  hear  him  talk  on  the  subject,  and 
to  see  what  a  nice,  careful  old  shepherd  he 
makes.' 

"After  returning  to  Maulmain,  Dr.  Judson 
made  three  long  tours  into  the  jungle,  encour- 
aging the  Karen  disciples,  and  preaching,  some- 
times to  an  assembly  of  earnest  listeners, 
sometimes  in  a  concert  of  crying  children, 
barking  dogs,  and  railing  sceptics,  to  the  Karen 
heathen ;  and  almost  everywhere  there  was 
some  fruit. 

"  Then  for  two  years  he  shut  himself  up,  so 
far  as  he  could,  to  his  translation ;  and  at  the 
end  of  that  time,  on  the  last  day  of  January, 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  135 

1834,  he  was  able  to  write,  'Thanks  be  to  God, 
I  can  now  say  I  have  attained.  I  have  knelt 
down  before  him  with  the  last  leaf  in  my  hand, 
and  implored  his  forgiveness  for  all  the  sins 
that  have  polluted  my  labors  in  this  department, 
and  his  aid  in  future  efforts  to  remove  the 
errors  and  imperfections  which  necessarily 
cleave  to  the  work.  I  have  commended  it  to 
his  mercy  and  grace.  I  have  dedicated  it  to 
his  glory.  May  he  make  his  own  inspired  Word, 
now  complete  in  the  Burman  tongue,  the  grand 
instrument  of  filling  all  Burmah  with  songs  of 
praise  to  our  great  God  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.  Amen.' " 

"  But  you  mustn't  think  we  were  not  doing 
any  thing  in  America  all  this  time,"  interrupted 
grandpa.  "  We  sent  out  Mr.  Jones  and  his 
wife,  and  the  Kincaids,  and  the  Cutters,  and 
Browns,  and  Miss  Harrington  in  1830,  and  the 
Hancocks  in  1831,  and  in  1832  Mr.  Simons  and 
the  Webbs,  and  Vintons,  and  Howards,  and 
Comstocks,  and  Osgoods,  and  Miss  Cummings. 
You  see,  the  Karens  were  Christianizing  us 
quite  as  fast  as  we  were  Christianizing  them.'' 

Katie  was  often  the  last  to  leave  the  room. 
Walter  had  never  before  been  the  last  but  one ; 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


JUOSON    WITH    TUB    LAST    LHAF   OF   THE    Bt'KMAN    UlBLE. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  137 

but  this  time  he  lingered  till  all  the  rest  had 
gone.  Then  he  turned  abruptly  to  Katie:  — 

"  It's  too  mean,"  he  said,  "  that  I  should  be 
here  making  work,  when  there  is  so  much  work 
to  be  done,  and  men  are  giving  their  lives  to  do 
it.  I  sometimes  feel  like  killing  myself,  so 
there'll  be  one  less  sinner  to  convert." 

"  Walter,  that  is  dreadful." 

"  I  know  it;  but  I  can't  help  it." 

"  But  are  you  sure  you  will  not  *  make  work ' 
for  anybody  even  then  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  any  thing  at  all  about  it." 

"  Neither  do  I ;  but  I  do  know  that  God  ex- 
pects something  more  of  us  than  merely  not  to 
make  work.  He  expects  us  to  be  workers." 

"  That  is  easier  said  than  done." 

"  I  know  it ;  but  we  have  to  say  it,  and  the 
doing  of  it  belongs  to  God :  so  I  sometimes 
think  the  saying  it  is  the  hardest  part,  after  all." 

"  You  haven't  been  much  of  a  worker  always, 
Kate." 

"  I  know  it :  I  am  sorry." 

Ten  minutes  of  silence,  and  the  two  parted, 
understanding  each  other  better  than  they  ever 
had  before. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

JUNGLE    AND    CITY. 

1LEASE  read  Minnie's  letter." 

Minnie  stood  by  Walter's  chair  with 
a  folded  paper  in  her  hand.     All  bits  of 
paper  were  "  letters  "  to  her. 

Walter  looked  up  from  the  newspaper  which 
he  was  not  reading,  unfolded  the  letter,  glanced 
at  it,  and  gave  it  back. 

"  Ida,  read  Minnie's  letter." 
Ida  took  the  paper  from  Minnie's  hand,  and 
opened  it,  not  expecting  to  find  writing  in  it. 
But  she  did  find  it,  and  in  Katie's  hand;  and  this 
is  what  she  read:  — 

"  A  missionary  must  be,  — 

"  i.  Patient,  not  easily  discouraged  or  vexed.  —  Carey. 

"  2.  Enthusiastic,  but  with  an  enthusiasm  that  will 
hold  out  when  it  has  nothing  external  to  support  it.  — 
Judson. 

138 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  139 

"  3.  Quick  to  see  opportunities  of  usefulness,  and 
ready  to  seize  them,  without  asking  questions  or  making 
excuses.  —  Boardman. 

"4.  Prudent  and  daring;  braving  every  thing  that 
need  be  braved  for  Christ's  sake,  and  nothing  that  need 
not  be.  — Mrs.  Judson. 

"  5.  Unselfish,  wholly  consecrated  to  the  cause.  All 
the  really  successful  missionaries  are  examples. 

"  6.  Ready  in  acquiring  languages.  —  Carey,  Wade. 

"  7.  Skilful  in  domestic  matters,  versatile,  quick  to 
devise  expedients.  —  Mrs.  Judson. 

"  8.  Able  to  maintain  a  Christian  life  without  the  help 
of  Christian  society. 

"  All  this  I  am  not.  Some  part  of  it,  by  God's  grace, 
I  may  yet  become.  Still  I  do  not  believe  God  has  called 
me  to  the  work  of  a  foreign  missionary ;  but  he  does  call 
all  who  love  him  to  the  missionary  work  somewhere.  My 
work,  I  think,  is  here." 

After  Ida  had  read  the  paper  through,  it 
occurred  to  her  that  she  had  really  no  right  to 
read  it  at  all.  She  replaced  it  upon  Katie's 
desk. 

"Well,  Ida?"  said  Walter. 

"Well." 

"  When  are  you  going  to  start  ?  " 

"Start?     Where?" 

"  For  India.  I  believe  Minnie's  letter  is  a 
pretty  fair  description  of  your  character,  as 


140  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

you've  usually  proclaimed  it  to  us.  I  should 
think  you  would  see  a  very  clear  call." 

"  Nonsense ! " 

When  Katie  returned  to  the  room,  a  glance 
at  the  open  paper  on  her  desk,  and  an  exchange 
of  glances  with  Ida,  told  her  what  had  hap- 
pened. 

"  How  much  Katie  is  changed  ! "  thought  Ida. 
"  She  wquld  have  been  terribly  angry  if  I  had 
read  any  such  thing  of  hers,  once." 

"  How  much  Ida  is  changed ! "  thought  Katie. 
"  She  would  have  given  me  a  long  congratulo- 
triumphant  lecture,  if  she  had  discovered  any 
thing  of  that  sort,  once." 

Both  thoughts  occurred  to  Walter,  and  he 
whistled  a  commentary  upon  them ;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, there  has  never  been  written  a  diction- 
ary for  the  interpretation  of  whistling. 

Walter's  remark  was  not  entirely  nonsense  : 
if  it  had  been,  it  would  not  have  intruded  itself 
upon  Ida's  mind  a  dozen  times  in  the  course  of 
the  day,  haunting  her  even  after  Mrs.  Bancroft 
had  begun  her  story  in  the  evening. 

"  If  you  had  traversed  the  jungles  about  Ta- 
voy  in  the  dry  season  of  1831,  you  might  very 
possibly  have  met,  emerging  from  some  ruinous 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  141 

zayat,  or  coming  up  dripping  from  the  fording  of 
a  stream,  or  perhaps,  weary  with  travel  over 
untrodden  roads  and  bridgeless  rivers,  stopping 
with  her  company  of  Karen  followers  to  dine  in 
some  wayside  shed,  a  lady  as  refined  and  deli- 
cate as  any  who  to-day  are  reclining  on  Ameri- 
can sofas,  consecrating  their  lives  to  headaches 
and  dyspepsia.  It  was  Mrs.  Boardman.  In  this 
way  she  kept  up  her  acquaintance  with  the 
Karens  of  the  wilderness.  Frequently  she  led 
the  worship  in  their  assemblies. 

"  During  the  rainy  season  she  was  not  less 
busy  in  the  city,  instructing  the  women,  direct- 
ing the  assistants,  and  superintending  schools. 
A  few  months  later,  you  might  have  found  Mr. 
Mason  in  the  same  city,  preaching  Christ  to  the 
priests  and  worshippers  of  its  thousand  pagodas, 
and,  after  the  rains,  crossing  and  recrossing  the 
same  jungles.  Let  us  follow,  and  see  him  at  his 
work. 

"  Here,  under  a  shed,  bowing  with  clasped 
hands  before  a  gilded  Gaudama,  and  praying, 
'  O  Lord,  preserve  us  ! '  are  some  Burmans. 

" '  What  is  the  use  of  talking  to  th'at  image, 
whose  ears  cannot  hear  ? '  he  asks. 

" '  We  pray,  sir,  to  Gaudama,  who  has  gone  to 
Nigban,'  is  the  answer. 


142  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  '  Has  he  a  body  there  ?' 

" '  No.' 

" '  Has  he  a  mind  ? ' 

"'No.' 

" '  And  what  can  a  person  know  without  mind 
or  body  ? ' 

"  A  hearty  laugh,  the  usual  Burman  covering 
for  defeat,  is  the  only  reply. 

"  Here  are  some  women,  cooking  under  the 
trees. 

" '  Where  do  you  expect  to  go  after  death  ? ' 
he  asks  one  of  them. 

"  '  Oh !  I  shall  be  put  into  the  ground  yonder.' 

"  '  Where  will  your  soul  go  ? ' 

"'I  am  a  woman,  and  know  nothing  about 
that.' 

"  He  reaches  Thabu  village :  there  are  three 
houses  of  Christians  here,  and  eight  or  nine 
apply  for  baptism. 

" '  What  sins  have  you  committed  ? '  he  asks 
of  one. 

" '  I  have  worshipped  the  -earth,  fire,  demons, 
pagodas,  images,  and  have  sinned  with  every 
member  of  my  body.' 

" '  That's  enough/  interrupts  Ko  Thah-byu. 

"  The  examination   goes    on.     This    woman 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


and  five  others  are  accepted  and  baptized  :  two 
or  three  are  rejected.  The  Lord's  Supper  is  cel- 
ebrated, a  marriage  solemnized;  and  the  mis- 


sionary passes  on  to  That  Creek,  a  village  mainly 
Christian.  An  old  woman  totters  out  to  meet 
him.  She  is  one  of  those  whom  he  baptized  by 
the  bedside  of  the  dying  Boardman. 


144  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  '  I  think  of  God  continually,'  she  says,  '  and 
of  dwelling  in  his  presence  forever.' 

" '  Do  you  have  no  quarrelling  or  scolding 
among  you  now  ? '  he  asks. 

"'No.' 

"'No,  sir,'  answers  the  headman,  a  notorious 
drunkard.  '  There  is  no  trouble  with  those  who 
have  been  baptized.' 

"  And  now  he  comes  to  Mata,  the  City  of 
Love.  Here  are  two  hundred  Christians  gath- 
ered into  a  village  of  their  own.  They  hold 
meetings,  and  every  convert  is  ready  to  speak 
or  pray.  They  send  out  missionary  companies 
into  the  jungle,  and  give  their  money  to  print 
tracts.  The  women  spin  and  weave,  and  wash 
the  garments  which  were  never  washed  before. 
The  men  have  goats  and  cattle,  ploughs  and  oil- 
mills.  The  children  are  trained  to  be  Chris- 
tians ;  those  whose  parents  were  drunkards 
growing  up  without  even  knowing  the  sight 
of  liquor.  The  ground  under  their  houses  is 
swept :  the  vermin  that  once  burrowed  there, 
and  the  Nats  that  filled  the  spiritual  atmos- 
phere, have  fled  together.  Instead  of  sacrifices 
to  demons,  from  almost  every  house  ascend 
prayer  and  praise  to  God.  Daily  at  sunrise  the 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  145 

people  meet  at  the  zayat  for  worship.  'The 
town  of  Mata,  amid  the  solitudes  of  the  great 
mountains  of  Tavoy/  writes  Dr.  Malcom,  'ex- 
hibits facts,  which,  if  they  were  all  the  effects 
our  mission  could  boast,  are  sufficient  to  assure 
the  most  incredulous  of  the  blessedness  of  our 
enterprise.  The  only  punishment  I  would  in- 
flict on  the  enemies  of  missions  would  be  a  pil- 
grimage to  these  villages.' 

"In  1834  Mrs.  Boardman  left  Tavoy  for 
Maulmain,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Judson.  In  the  same 
year,  Miss  Cummings,  who,  before  she  knew  the 
language,  had  gone  to  Chummerah  alone  with 
the  Burman  teachers,  and  there,  with  the  native 
assistants,  had  carried  on  the  station  for  two 
years,  left  it,  sick  with  the  jungle-fever,  to  find 
a  grave  in  Maulmain. 

"In  the  first  days  of  1835  the  Masons  wel- 
comed the  Wades  back  to  share  their  labors ; 
and  here,  after  a  dozen  years  of  monotonous 
variety,  we  find  them  still.  Let  us  glance  at 
them  a  few  times  during  those  twelve  years. 

"It  is  evening.  They  have  travelled  all  day 
through  jungles  which  no  horse  could  pene- 
trate, sometimes  climbing  steep  cliffs,  some- 
times walking  on  the  very  edge  of  precipices 


146  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

two  or  three  hundred  feet  high,  till,  thoroughly 
tired,  they  reach  the  Christian  village  of  Quag- 
thah.  The  disciples  flock  out,  and  offer  their 
houses.  But  the  night  is  damp^  the  houses 
crowded ;  and  the  missionaries  will  not  allow 
them  to  endanger  their  women  and  little  ones. 
They  spread  comforters,  and  lie  upon  the 
ground ;  but  the  Christian  Karens  come  out 
and  lie  down  around  them,  that,  'should  the 
tigers  come  in  the  night,  they  may  take  them, 
and  not  the  missionaries.' 

"  They  reach  Mata ;  and  Mrs.  Wade  remains 
there,  while  the  men  go  on  a  long  journey  into 
the  jurfgle.  Saturday  comes,  and  the  disciples 
cluster  around  her. 

" '  Will  not  the  mamma  preach  to  us  to- 
morrow ? ' 

"'God  has  not  appointed  women  to  preach,' 
she  answers  ;  '  but  we  will-  sit  down  together  as 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  I  will  read  and  explain 
some  of  the  words  of  our  Saviour.' 

"  She  '  read  and  explained '  to  a  congregation 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Through  the  week 
she  ministered  to  a  score  of  sick  and  dying, 
singing  as  she  went,  — 

'  Oh  that  the  Lord  would  count  me  meet 
To  wash  his  dear  disciples'  feet ! ' 


OUR  GVLD-MINE.  147 

"It  was  well,  she  appreciated  the  privilege: 
for  the  feet  of  Christian  Karens  even  are  not 
always  clean ;  and,  if  they  were,  it  was  not 
pleasant,  in  visiting  some  sick  disciple,  to  find 
his  friends  in  the  room  broiling  a  snake,  or 
cooking  a  dish  of  black  ants  for  dinner. 

"The  next  Sunday  there  were  one  hundred 
and  sixty  at  worship.  Many  were  inquirers, 
some  recent  converts  ;  and  when,  at  the  end  of 
six  weeks,  Mr.  Wade  again  joined  her,  twenty- 
five  were  ready  for  baptism. 

"  Later,  we  find  Mr.  Wade  and  Mr.  Mason 
with  their  followers  at  Tamler.  Several  of  the 
people  had  died  of  dysentery ;  and  the  rest,  for 
miles  around,  were  panic-stricken,  and  deter- 
mined to  run  away.  In  one  house  lay  a  man 
and  child  sick  with  the  disease,  a  wife  with  a 
little  babe,  and  a  child  dead,  and  none  to  bury 
it 

" '  Can  you  not  go  and  bury  it  ? '  Mr.  Mason 
asked  the  Christian  Karens. 

"  They  hesitated.  '  We  are  afraid.  The  dis- 
ease is  certainly  infectious,'  they  answered. 

" '  Then  I  will  go,'  said  Mr.  Mason. 

"  Their  courage  quickened  by  this,  the  dis- 
ciples went  with  him  ;  and  -together,  after  fight- 


148  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

ing  their  way  through  the  bushes  in  the  dark 
for  two  or  three  miles  over  ground  where  a 
man  had  been  devoured  by  a  tiger  in  broad  day- 
light not  long  before,  they  reached  the  place, 
dug  a  grave,  and  gave  the  child  Christian  burial.' 
Deeply  moved  by  such  strange  kindness,  the 
parents  promised  to  become  Christians.  The 
next  year  Mr.  Mason  found,  to  his  surprise,  that 
the  promise  had  been  kept. 

"Time  brought  new  work  and  new  workers. 
San  Quala,  the  second  Karen  convert,  led  to 
Christ  by  Ko  Thah-byu's  first  sermon,  is  now 
an  active  evangelist,  accompanying  Mr.  Mason 
on  his  long  tours,  and  giving  sermons  that 
would  do  honor  to  many  an  American  preacher ; 
while  by  carefully  watching  the  modes  of  labor, 
the  examination  of  candidates,  and  the  discipline 
of  transgressors,  he  is  fitting  himself  for  a  far 
greater  work  hereafter.  Mata  has  nearly  doubled 
in  size ;  and  in  scores  of  places  the  jungle  is 
lighted  by  the  tiny  tapers  of  Christian  churches. 
Every  time  the  missionaries  go  out  among  the 
churches,  there  are  candidates  for  discipline  as 
well  as  for  baptism.  Here  are  some  that  have 
fallen  into  intemperance ;  others  that  have  wor- 
shipped the  Nats  ;  another  that  has  '  used  curs- 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  149 

ing  language  to  her  dog ; '  another  who  said  to 
her  child,  '  May  the  tigers  eat  you  ! '  Twenty 
have  been  absent  from  sabbath  worship  ;  some 
only  for  one  sabbath,  however.  One  has  been 
guilty  of  foolish  talking;  three,  of  calumny. 
So  read  the  records  of  the  Mata  church,  as  kept 
by  the  Karen  clerk,  and  reported  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. One  cannot  help  thinking  how  some 
American  church-records  would  read,  if  kept  as 
carefully. 

"  All  these  cases  the  missionary  must  attend 
\o.  Then  sickness  visits  the  flock;  and  his 
wife  is  nurse,  physician,  every  thing.  With  her 
own  hands  she  washes  the  leprous  sores,  or  pre- 
pares cooling  draughts  for  the  husband,  while 
his  wife  stands  speechless  and  trembling.  With 
her  own  hands  she  takes  the  fevered  child  from 
its  helpless  mother,  and  nurses  it  alone  ;  for  the 
Karens  know  nothing  of  medicine  or  nursing, 
except  through  charms.  The  fever  heightens ; 
and  then  comes  the  agonizing  question,  — 
"'  May  I  not  make  one  offering  to  the  Nats  ? ' 
" '  No.'  It  is  a  hard  word  even  for  the  teach- 
er to  speak,  with  those  pitiful  eyes  looking  into 
her  own,  pleading  for  leave  to  do  the  one  only 
thing  the  mother  knows  how  to  do  to  save  her 
child. 


ISO  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"The  hours  pass  by,  —  hours  in  which  the 
missionary  struggles  hand  to  hand  with  death, 
and  the  mother  with  all  the  powers  of  tempta- 
tion. "  The  child  grows  worse. 

"  '  Only  once  \  Would  it  be  wrong  ? '  pleads 
the  mother. 

" '  The  Nats  cannot  help  you,  but  God  can,' 
answers  the  missionary. 

"The  mother  cannot  disbelieve  in  the  Nats. 
Has  .she  not  seen  them,  heard  them,  made  offer- 
ings to  them,  and  been  helped  by  them  ?  Have 
not  her  neighbors  talked  with  them  ?  Are  they* 
not  even  now  tormenting  her  child  ?  The  Nats 
may  be  wicked :  but  surely  there  are  Nats  ;  and 
not  to  offer  to  them  is  to  sacrifice  her  child. 
Will  God  require  it?  But  the  mother  obeys. 
A  few  more  busy,  anxious  hours,  and  morning 
shows  the  fever  gone  from  the  child,  and,  bet- 
ter still,  the  terror  of  the  Nats  gone  from  the 
mother's  heart  forever ;  for  her  God  has  shown 
himself  stronger  than  they.  But  many  another 
Karen  mother,  who  has  bravely  stood  all  other 
tests,  facing  alone  this  terrible  temptation,  has 
fallen  before  it. 

"  While  so  much  of  the  strength  of  the  mis- 
sion was  diverted  to  the  jungle,  the  great  cities 
were  not  forgotten. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  151 

"While  learning  the  language,  Mr.  Kincaid 
took  charge  of  a  little  European  church  started 
among  the  soldiers  at  Maulmain,  and  ninety-five 
were  added  to  its  numbers.  In  1833  he  sailed 
up  the  Irrawadi  to  Ava.  Almost  everywhere  he 
found  some  who  were  willing  to  listen." 

"Was  it  thanks  to  Bibles  or  British  pow- 
der?" asked  Clarence. 

"  To  the  British  powder,  no  doubt,  that  he 
could  preach  unmolested  in  all  the  three  hun- 
dred villages  between  Rangoon  and  Ava ;  but 
it  was  not  British  powder  that  had  scattered 
tracts  and  whispered  fragments  of  the  gospel 
message  in  advance  of  him  in  regions  no  mis- 
sionary had  ever  trodden,  or  that  kindled  a  long- 
ing for  it  in  scores  of  hearts  of  those  who  heard 
now  for  the  first  time. 

"  Once,  as  he  was  busy  giving  tracts  to  the 
crowd  that  lined  the  shore,  a  young  man  came 
with  the  request,  '  Will  you  please  give  me  St. 
John's  history  of  Christ  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  ? ' 

"  The  books  were  given,  with  four  tracts,  and 
the  young  man  disappeared;  but  at  dark  he 
came  again. 

" '  There  is  a  man  besides  me  in  the  city  who 


152  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

believes  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  wants  to  see  the 
teacher  and  get  books  ;  but  he  thinks  the  boat  is 
away,  and  has  sent  me  to  search.' 

"  Following  him,  Mr.  Kincaid  found  a  venera- 
ble man,  who,  with  only  St.  John  and  the  Acts 
to  teach  him,  had  for  two  years  been  leading  a 
Christian  life.  The  young  man  had  heard  Dr. 
Judson  preach  in  Prome,  and  received  from  him 
the  books  which  he  had  read  to  his  friend.  Now 
both  were  open  disciples.  Mr.  Kincaid  spent 
with  them  an  evening  never  to  be  forgotten. 

"  When  settled  in  Ava,  he  found  a  congrega- 
tion of  seven  or  eight  hundred  frequently  clus- 
tering about  the  zayat  where  he  preached,  while 
visitors  crowded  his  veranda. 

"  One  day  he  sent  out  Ko  Shun  and  Ko  San 
Lone  to  occupy  a  large  zayat  in  another  part 
of  the  city.  Arrived  there,  they  found  Moung 
Kay,  a  popular  young  Buddhist  preacher,  dis- 
cussing and  explaining  his  sacred  books  to  the 
people.  They  listened  respectfully  till  he  paused. 

"  '  Have  you  heard  that  there  is  a  God  eternal, 
who  is  not,  and  never  was,  subject  to  any  of  the 
infirmities  of  men  ? '  they  asked  him. 

"'No.' 

" '  There  is  such  a  God,  and  his  sacred  Word 
is  in  Burmah.' 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  153 


The  Lord's  Prayer  in  Burmese 

^jcooS  ^cooooaog  1  <5c8  ose  H 
coo  cco 


09 
eao8  caooScpcS  o 


Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven,  hallowed  be  thy  name;  thy  king- 
lorn  come,  thy  will  be  done  in  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven,  Give  us 
his  day  our  daily  bread;  and  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  forgive 
lur  debtors;  and  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from 
:vil  :  for  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  for- 
iyer,  Amen, 

The  Lord's  Prayer  in  Karen. 


C  W 


154  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  They  read  to  him  the  catechism  and  part  of 
the  '  View.' 

"  *  Will  you  give  me  a  book  ? ' 

"  The  book  was  given.  He  read  incessantly 
till  he  had  finished  the  New  Testament  and  all 
the  tracts.  On  the  fifth  day  he  threw  away  his 
beads,  and  forsook  the  pagodas.  Soon  he  be- 
came a  frequent  visitor  at  the  veranda. 

" '  How  shall  I  know  that  I  have  a  new  heart  ? ' 
he  asked  at  one  time. 

" '  When  you  love  Christ,  his  word,  and  his 
people,  when  you  love  holiness,  and  hate  idola- 
try and  all  sin,  you  may  know  that  you  have  a 
new  heart.' 

"  There  was  a  long  pause ;  and  then  the  young 
preacher  said,  '  I  think  I  have  a  new  heart.  I 
see  every  thing  differently  from  what  I  formerly 
did.  Every  thing  is  so  new,  that  I  can  hardly 
eat  or  sleep.' 

"  A  few  days  later  he  asked  to  be  baptized, 
but  in  the  night. 

" '  Are  you  afraid  to  advocate  the  cause  of 
Christ?' 

" '  No  ;  but  my  family  are  afraid.' 

."  So  the  first  to  be  baptized  was  a  woman, 
Mah  May  Oo. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  155 

" '  I  know  it  is  the  true  religion,'  she  said, 
*  because  it  takes  away,  my  pride,  and  makes  me 
feel  like  a  little  child.' 

"  But,  the  next  Lord's  Day,  Moung  Kay  fol- 
lowed ;  and  in  the  course  of  time  a  church  of 
twenty-one  was  gathered.  Still  every  convert 
was  snatched  like  a  bone  from  between  the 
tiger's  jaws.  The  Burman  officers  coaxed, 
warned,  and  threatened  violence.  Mr.  Kincaid 
was  compelled  to  live  out  of  the  city  limits,  and 
to  stop  giving  tracts  against  Buddhism  ;  but  as 
long  as  he  was  not  absolutely  forbidden  by  the 
king  to  preach,  and  give  Testaments,  he  would 
not  leave  the  capital. 

"  But  a  few  months  later,  on  returning  from  a 
perilous  trip  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to 
the  foot  of  the  Himalayas,  he  found  a  new  king 
on  the  throne,  all  teaching  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion absolutely  forbidden,  and  grave  mutterings 
of  war  with  England.  He  left  his  band  of 
twenty-one  disciples,  and  went  to  Rangoon,  and 
soon  after  to  Maulmain. 

"  Now  let  us  look  at  Rangoon.  I  think  Dr. 
Judsgn  must  have  appreciated  the  place  as  a 
training  -  school  for  missionaries  ;  for  nearly 
every  new  one  was  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time 


156  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

stationed  there.  It  was  the  hardest  of  fields. 
'To  get  a  new  convert/.  Dr.  Judson  writes  in 
1831,  'is  like  pulling  the  eye-teeth  out  of  a  live 
tiger.'  Yet,  when  Mr.  Webb  came  in  1834,  he 
baptized  thirty-one  Karens,  and  there  were  many 
more  applicants. 

"In  1835  there  came  a  general  persecution. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Howard  were  the  only  missiona- 
ries there,  and  almost  wholly  ignorant  of  the 
language ;  when  one  morning  Ko  San-Lone,  one 
of  the  native  pastors,  came  in  with  the  news 
that  a  petty  officer  had  sent  for  him. 

"'What  shall  I  do?' 

" '  You  had  better  go  with  him,  and  Moung 
Shway  Thah  shall  go  with  you.' 

"  Soon  Moung  Shway  Thah  came  back  with 
the  news  that  Ko  San-Lone  was  confined  for 
examination.  In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Howard 
went  himself  to  the  Woongyee  with  an  English 
interpreter. 

" '  Ah  !  this  is  the  American  teacher.  What 
does  he  want  ? ' 

" '  One  of  the  rulers  has  confined  one  of  my 
men,  and  I  have  come  to  see  about  it.' 

"  '  What  has  he  shut  him  up  for  ? ' 

" '  I  do  not  know.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  157 

" '  I  think  he  gives  writings  the  ruler  does 
not  like/  said  the  Woongyee;  and,  turning  to 
the  interpreter,  '  Tell  him  to  let  him  go.' 

"When  the  mob  heard  the  message,  they 
rushed  in  a  mass  to  the  Woongyee's  house,  and 
brought  all  manner  of  false  charges  against  Ko 
San-Lone,  until  at  last  he  was  given  over  to 
their  mercies.  For  weeks  he  lay  in  prison, 
loaded  with  torturing  chains,  often  beaten,  and 
threatened  with  death  if  he  continued  his  re- 
fusal to  worship  Gaudama.  Daily,  as  the  native 
Christians  walked  the  streets,  they  heard  the 
question,  '  When  is  that  Christian  going  to  be 
executed  ? '  But  he  remained  firm  and  happy 
in  his  faith  ;  and  at  last,  by  the  payment  of  all 
he  had  and  sixty  rupees  from  the  missionaries, 
he  was  released.  '  Through  all  this,'  Mr.  Webb 
says,  '  not  a  word  escaped  his  lips  which  savored 
of  irritation.  Indeed,  in  looking  over  all  I  have 
ever  seen  of  him  or  heard,  I  do  not  remember  a 
single  word  or  act  which  I  could  wish  altered. 
He  was  at  all  times  the  humble,  spiritual  Chris- 
tian. A  few  months  after  his  release  he  died.' 

"  Through  all  the  region  the  Christian  Karens 
were  fined,  often  to  an  amount  far  more  than 
all  they  had.  None  dared  come  to  the  mission- 


158  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

house.  Mr.  Howard  could  not  even  employ  a 
teacher.  Yet  persecution  bore  its  fruit;  and 
when,  soon  after,  Messrs.  Vinton,  Abbott,  and 
Howard  went  up  the  Irrawadi  to  Maubee,  they 
baptized  one  hundred  and  seventy-three.  Ko 
Thah-byu  had  been  preaching  there,  and  these 
were  mainly  the  result  of  his  labors.  Later, 
Mr.  Abbott  baptized  thirty-seven  in  the  same 
neighborhood. 

"  '  These  public  baptisms  may  bring  on  perse- 
cution,' he  suggested. 

"  '  If  they  persecute,  let  them  persecute,'  was 
the  answer. 

"At  first  the  persecutions  were  slight,  with 
long  intervals  of  quiet.  At  one  time,  the  mis- 
sionaries who  had  left  Rangoon  were  even  invit- 
ed back  by  the  viceroy,  that,  seeing  them  at 
work,  the  people  might  feel  sure  there  was  no 
prospect  of  war.  But  the  mild  viceroy  was  soon 
deposed ;  a  sterner  took  his  place ;  and  the  Karen 
Christians  were  hunted  as  their  fellow-citizens, 
the  tigers,  had  never  been.  They  were  fined, 
imprisoned,  beaten,  killed.  Many  fled  across 
the  mountain  to  Arracan,  where  Mr.  Abbott 
was  now  stationed ;  many  perished  on  the  way 
there.  All  communication  with  the  foreigners 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  159 

was  forbidden,  so  that  a  missionary  to  the  Bur- 
mans  might  as  well  be  in  Boston  as  in  Rangoon  ; 
and  so,  very  reluctantly,  the  mission  was  given 
up  to  the  native  assistants. 

"  For  several  years,  a  great  part  of  Dr.  Jud- 
son's  time  was  occupied  by  the  revision  of  the 
Bible.  His  voice  had  failed  now,  so  that  his 
preaching  could  not  often  be  distinctly  heard. 
Thus  Providence  seemed  to  join  in  the  call  the 
Board  had  for  some  time  been  making  upon 
him,  to  prepare  a  dictionary  for  the  use  of  future 
missionaries ;  and  he  commenced  the  work. 

"  In  1845,  as  the  onty  chance  of  saving  Mrs. 
Judson's  life,  he  left  with  her  for  America.  She 
lived  only  to  reach  the  Island  of  St  Helena. 
There  she  was  buried.  In  October,  Dr.  Judson, 
with  his  three  children,  arrived  in  Boston. 

"  It  was  thirty-three  years  since  the  first  mis- 
sionaries left  America.  Its  old  men  were  all 
dead,  its  middle-aged  men  old,  its  children 
middle-aged  men.  The  children  of  1845  knew 
Judson's  name  as  they  knew  the  names  of  Lu- 
ther and  Knox  and  Whitefield.  To  have  a 
man  step  out  from  the  pages  of  history  into 
their  streets  and  churches  was  a  new  experience. 
America  was  a  still  stranger  sight  to  Judson. 


160  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

Kxcept  the  changes  that  he  and  his  brethren 
and  the  war  of  1825  had  brought,  the  Burmah 
of  1845  was  the  Burmah  of  1812.  There  had 
been  a  few  revolutions,  to  be  sure ;  but,  in  the 
East,  revolutions  belong  to  the  ordinary  course 
of  events,  and  their  absence  would  mark  a  far 
greater  change  than  their  presence.  But  the 
America  he  found  was  less  like  the  America  he 
left  than  the  men  now  in  its  pulpits  were  like 
the  infants  then  in  its  cradles.  The  nation  had 
grown  from  boyhood  to  manhood  in  thirty-three 
years. 

"  As  the  ship  came  to  land,  Dr.  Judson  was 
considerably  troubled  lest  he  should  not  know 
where  to  look  for  lodgings ;  never  dreaming  that 
a  hundred  houses  would  be  proud  to  claim  him 
as  their  guest,  and  crowds  everywhere  be  eager 
to  hear  the  few  low  words  that  his  voice  had 
strength  to  utter.  Why  should  they  ?  He  had 
only  done  very  imperfectly  his  duty.  Many  of 
them  had  done  more,  he  hoped.  Was  it  a  so 
much  greater  thing  to  do  one's  duty  in  Burmah 
than  in  America,  that  people  must  flock  to  see 
him  for  that  ? 

"  He  spoke  briefly  a  fevfr  times  in  public,  — 
never  of  himself,  rarely  of  his  mission,  but  always 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  161 

of  Christ.  An  audience  that  gathered  to  hear 
descriptions  of  Burman  customs,  or  of  thrilling 
adventures,  was  sure  to  be  disappointed. 

"  An  intimate  friend   mentioned  this   disap- 
pointment to  him  at  one  time. 
•     " '  Why,  what  did  they  want  ? '  he  inquired.   '  I 
presented  the  most  interesting  subject  in  the 
world  to  the  best  of  my  ability.' 

"  '  But  they  wanted  something  different,  —  a 
story.' 

" '  Well,  I  am  sure  I  gave  them  a  story  the 
most  thrilling  that  can  be  conceived  of.' 

" '  But  they  had  heard  it  before.  They  wanted 
something  new  from  a  man  that  had  just  come 
from  the  antipodes.' 

"  '  Then  I  am  glad  they  have  it  to  say,  that  a 
man  coming  from  the  antipodes  had  nothing 
better  to  tell  them  than  the  wondrous  story  of 
Jesus'  dying  love.' 

"  Amid  applause  that  would  have  more  than 
satisfied  most  men,  Dr.  Judson  was  homesick 
for  Burmah.  The  last  days  of  November,  1846, 
found  him  again  within  sight  of  its  shores.  With 
him  sailed  Mrs.  Emily  C.  Judson  (whom  he  had 
married  just  before  leaving  America),  Messrs. 
Harris  and  Beecher  with  their  wives,  and  Miss 
Lillybridge. 


1 62  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"Nor  was  it  enough  to  be  on  heathen  soil. 
He  hungered  for  the  land  of  prisons  and  perse- 
cutions (Burmah  Proper),  and  was  not  satisfied 
till  he  was  settled  in  Rangoon,  in  the  upper  story 
of  a  brick  den,  almost  windowless,  gloomy  as  a 
prison,  and  already  occupied  by  innumerable 
bats,  which  flared  up  through  the  night  with  a 
sound  reminding  him  of  Niagara.  He  was  pas- 
tor of  a  church  of  twelve  re-organized  from  the 
old  Rangoon  church,  and  preached  to  a  congre- 
gation of  twenty,  who  came  on  Sunday  morning, 
one  or  two  at  a  time,  bringing  parcels,  or  dishes 
of  fruit,  or  wearing  their  clothes  tucked  up  like 
coolies  to  avoid  suspicion,  and  in  the  afternoon 
left  as  gradually." 

"  It  takes  a  deal  to  satisfy  some  men,"  re- 
marked Walter.  "  It  is  well  all  D.D.'s  are  not 
so  ambitious." 

"  I  confess,  I  am  glad  I  am  more  easily  con- 
tented," said  Clarence. 

"  I  doubt  if  he  was  fully  contented  until  the 
6th  of  June,  when  he  had  the  privilege  of  lead- 
ing down  a  young  convert  to  the  tank,  where, 
twenty-eight  years  before,  he  insulted  the  stone 
Gaudama  by  the  baptism  of  Moung  Nau.  This 
was  the  second  baptism  since  he  came  to  Ran- 
goon. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  163 

"  The  next  day  the  ymmg  man's  father,  an 
old  disciple,  was  arrested,  and  brought  to  the 
governor's  court.  Dr.  Judson  was  told  of  it,  and 
for  two  hours  sat  expecting  the  worst. 

"  '  What  have  you  brought  the  man  before  me 
for  ? '  asked  the  officer  of  the  accusers. 

" '  To  be  examined  on  the  charge  of  heresy, 
and  of  frequenting  the  house  of  Jesus  Christ's 
teacher,'  said  the  leader. 

" '  On  what  authority  ? ' 

" '  Here  is  your  written  order.' 

"  '  What  ?  Who  ?  I  have  given  no  order.  It 
must  be  one  of  my  petty  clerks.  It's  all  a  mis- 
take. Go  about  your  business.' 

" '  I  thought  it  strange,'  rallied  the  prisoner, 
'  that  you  should  summon  me  on  the  charge  of 
heresy,  since  it  is  well  known  that  I  worship  the 
true  God.' 

" '  God ! '  exclaimed  the  officer,  a  little  nettled. 

*  Worship  any  God  you  like.' 

" '  Or  the  Devil,'  added  a  virago  at  his  side. 

*  If  you  villagers  pay  your  taxes,  what  more  do 
we  want  ? ' 

"  Yet  the  officer  had  given  the  order.  But 
probably,  after  his  servants  had  been  sent  to 
execute  it,  he  had  shown  it  to  the  governor ;  and 


1 64  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

the  old  man,  remembeftig  a  pledge  he  had  made 
to  Dr.  Judson,  quashed  the  proceeding. 

"At  any  rate,  the  jaws  of  death  were  closed 
that  time  without  taking  in  the  disciple  ;  but 
Dr.  Judson's  house  was  watched,  and  no  one 
dared  come  near  it  on  Sunday." 

"  Wasn't  it  a  little  strange,"  said  Charlie  as 
Mrs.  Bancroft  closed,  "  that,  at  the  very  time  the 
Karens  were  counting  converts  by  the  hundreds 
in  spite  of  persecution,  Maulmain,  with  its  dozen 
missionaries,  could  only  boast  one  hundred  and 
fifty  converted  Burmans  ? " 

"  Not  very,"  replied  Clarence.  "  Christianity 
does  not  seem  adapted  to  the  wants  of  scholarly 
races  like  the  Hindoos  and  Burmans  so  well  as 
to  more  barbarous  people  like  the  Karens.  Its 
successes  are  always  among  tribes  not  capable 
of  great  intellectual  development." 

"  The  English  and  Americans,  for  example," 
remarked  Walter  gravely. 

Mrs.  Bancroft  smiled.  "  The  best  answer  I 
can  give  to  Charlie's  question,"  she  said,  "is  an 
illustration  Dr.  Judson  used  in  a  sermon  about 
this  time.  There  is  used  in  the  East  a  kind  of 
earth-oil,  so  vile  in  smell,  that  no  dish  once  used 
for  it  can  be  fit  for  any  thing  else.  The  illustra- 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  165 

tion  ran  about  like  this  :  There  are  two  jars,  one 
empty,  the  other  full  of  earth-oil.  A  man  goes 
to  the  owner  of  the  empty -jar,  and  asks  if  he 
may  fill  it  with  pure  water.  '  Oh,  yes !  I  shall 
consider  it  a  favor,'  is  the  answer.  So  the  Ka- 
rens receive  the  gospel.  Then  he  goes  to  the 
owner  of  the  jar  of  earth-oil.  First  he  must 
empty  it.  This  the  owner  considers  robbery. 
'  You  are  taking  away  my  property,'  he  says  :  '  I 
will  apply  to  the  king  and  priests  to  uphold  me 
in  clinging  to  my  property.'  After  long  persua- 
sion, the  man  consents  to  give  up  his  oil.  Then 
comes  dipping  out  and  washing  and  rubbing, 
the  man  all  the  while  begging  him  not  to  take  it 
all  away.  At  last  the  water  is  poured  in :  but, 
after  all,  so  much  of  the  old  oil  clings  to  the 
dish,  that  the  bystanders  say,  *  We  do  not  per- 
ceive that  the  water  is  sweeter  than  the  oil ; '  and 
perhaps,  after  a  while,  the  man  himself  joins  in, 
says  the  smell  is  as  bad  as  before,  and  upsets 
the  jar.  So  it  is  in  religion.  The  Karens,  who 
have  little  to  give  up,  receive  Christ  gladly  :  the 
Burmans,  who  have  much,  are  slow  to  part  with 
it ;  and,  when  they  do,  the  old  religion  too  often 
makes  its  mark  upon  the  new. 

"In  1840  Mr.  Abbott  and  Mr.  Kincaid  joined 


1 66  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

the  mission  in  Arracan.  Here  for  five  years  the 
Comstocks  had  been  laboring.  Two  years  later 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  Joined  them,  but  died  before 
their  work  began.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stilson  came 
in  1839,  and  were  now  stationed  at  Ramree. 
Mr.  Kincaid  went  to  Akyab.  Mr.  Abbott  lo- 
cated himself  at  Sandoway,  that  he  might  look 
after  the  Karens  ;  but  for  some  days  no  Karens 
were  visible.  As  they  seemed  not  likely  to 
come  to  him,  he  went  out  to  one  of  their  villages. 
He  talked :  they  would  not  listen.  He  asked 
to  enter  their  houses :  they  refused.  To  save 
himself  from  the  scorching  sun,  he  entered  one 
uninvited,  but  was  not  allowed  a  seat.  These 
were  the  people  for  whom  he  was  perilling  his 
life.  The  prospect  was  gloomy  as  it  could  well 
be. 

"Yet  even  then,  across  the  mountains,  and 
far  into  Burmah  Proper,  the  news  had  flown,  that 
the  teacher  was  once  more  within  reach ;  and 
soon,  in  companies  of  five,  ten,  and  twenty,  they 
were  flocking  to  see  him.  Some  came  to  hear 
the  gospel,  some  to  remain  and  study,  some  for 
baptism.  Burmah  had  been  shut  to  the  mission- 
aries ;  but  no  emperor's  edict  could  shut  out  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Some  of  the  books  scattered  by 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  167 

the  Rangoon  missionaries  had  crossed  to  the 
border  of  the  empire,  and  were  in  the  hands 
of  Karen  Christians.  One  had  given  a  rupee  for 
a  New  Testament,  another  a  day's  work  for  a 
tract.  One  of  the  Burmans  baptized  by  Mr. 
Kincaid  at  Ava  had  been  made  a  ruler  in  Bas- 
sein,  and  not  only  refused  to  imprison  Christians, 
but  himself  kept  the  sabbath,  and  prayed  to  the 
eternal  God. 

"  One  of  the  disciples,  Bleh  Poh,  soon  after 
his  conversion,  had  a  child  fall  dangerously  sick. 

" '  You  are  the  cause ;  you  have  forsaken  the 
religion  of  your  fathers,  and  the  child's  demon 
is  angry  with  you,'  said  his  friends :  and  they 
begged  him  to  '  eat  the  Devil ; '  in  other  words, 
to  offer  a  sacrifice  to  him. 

" '  I  trust  in  the  everlasting  God,  and  have  re- 
nounced the  worship  of  devils,'  said  Bleh  Poh. 

"  The  child  died.  Bleh  Poh  was  brought  be- 
fore the  court. 

" '  He  has  a  foreigner's  book,  and  has  em- 
braced the  foreigners'  religion,'  was  the  chief 
charge  against  him. 

"  '  What  is  in  the  book  ? '  asked  the  judge. 

"  Bleh  Poh  answered  by  giving  in  his  own 
words  an  abstract  of  the  Bible,  closing  with  a 
kind  but  earnest  sermon  on  idolatry. 


168  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"'What  you  say  is  all  very  good,'  said  the 
officer ;  '  but,  if  I  do  not  take  notice  of  this  case, 
it  will  come  to  the  ears  of  the  king,  and  I  shall 
lose  my  life.' 

" '  Don't  fear.  Send  me  up  to  the  king,  and  let 
me  answer  for  myself,  or  suffer.' 

"  Commonly,  Karens  thus  arrested  were  fined, 
beaten,  or  imprisoned ;  but  Bleh  Poh's  sermon 
had  made  such  an  impression,  that  he  was  re- 
leased without  either. 

"  He  returned  to  his  family,  only  to  meet 
insults  and  curses  from  them. 

"'You  have  murdered  your  child.  We  will 
kill  you.' 

" '  If  you  do  not  kill  me,  I  shall  die  myself 
soon,'  he  answered  meekly. 

"  Soon  his  wife  and  several  others  of  his  rela- 
tions became  converts,  while  the  Burman  officer 
from  that  time  favored  the  Christians. 

" '  The  Karen  Christians  are  a  quiet,  peaceable 
race,  and  pay  their  taxes,'  he  said,  when  told  by 
a  higher  officer  to  put  three  or  four  of  them  to 
death  as  an  example :  '  if  they  wish  to  worship 
their  God,  let  them.' 

"  The  chance  to  testify  for  Christ  before  Bur- 
man officers  came  often  ;  and  so  fearless  and 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  169 

gentle  was  Bleh  Poh,  that  he  always  made  his 
judges  either  friends  or  harmless  enemies.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  baptized  by  Mr.  Abbott  at 
Sandoway.  At  home  he  was  humble,  faithful, 
prayerful,  generous,  the  arbiter  of  disputes,  the 
adviser  in  difficulties  ;  abroad  he  was  a  most 
earnest,  self-sacrificing  preacher.  He  died  in 
the  last  days  of  1843,  at  the  age  of  thirty. 

"  Ko  Tha-byu  came  with  Mr.  Abbott  to  Sando- 
way. He  had  been  the.  first  to  preach  Christ  to 
the  Karens  of  Tavoy,  of  Maulmain,  and  of  Ran- 
goon, and  now  was  ready  to  aid  in  opening  the 
work  in  Arracan.  But,  at  the  beginning  of  his 
work,  God  took  him.  He  died  willingly  and 
fearlessly  a  few  months  after  his  arrival.  In 
reply  to  all  questions  as  to  the  future,  his  answer 
was,  '  Teacher,  the  Lord  will  preserve  me.' 

"In  1841  Bleh  Poh's  brother  appeared,  with 
eight  others,  as  an  applicant  for  baptism. 

"  '  Can  you  bear  persecution  and  death  for 
Christ  ? '  asked  Mr.  Abbott,  '  or  will  you  deny 
your  Lord  ? ' 

"  He  hesitated  :  he  thought  he  should  not  '  do 
as  Peter  did.' 

" '  Dare  you  testify  before  God  and  this  con- 
gregation that  you  will  endure  unto  death  ? ' 


170  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  I  am  afraid,  teacher.     I  dare  not.' 

"  Mr.  Abbott  repeated  the  question.  A  large 
congregation  waited  in  breathless  silence  and 
anxious  expectation. 

"  He  bowed  his  face  to  the  floor,  and  wept. 
They  needed  no  such  proof  of  his  sincerity; 
yet,  having  asked  the  question,  Mr.  Abbott 
dared  not  let  it  pass  unanswered.  The  assem- 
bly was  still  as  the  grave 

"At  last  he  raised  his  head.  Great  tears 
rolled  down  his  cheeks. 

"  '  I  think  —  teacher  —  I  shall  not —  deny  the 
Lord  —  if  he  gives  me  grace.  I  can  say  no 
more.' 

"  His  request  for  baptism  was  joyfully  granted. 

"  Others  of  Bleh  Poh's  relatives  were  dread- 
fully beaten,  bound  with  fetters,  and  imprisoned. 

" '  Do  you  worship  the  eternal  God  ? '  asked 
an  officer  of  one  of  them. 

"  '  Yes.'     ' 

"  '  Well,  you  must  worship  no  more.' 

" '  I  shall  worship,  though  you  kill  me/ 

" '  These  Karen  Christians  are  a  very  hard 
case,'  said  the  officer. 

"  Of  such  the  teachers  had  no  fears  ;  but  all 
were  not  such.  And  now  the  clouds  thickened ; 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  171 

the  persecution  became  fierce.  The  times  of 
baptism  were  times  of  deepest  solemnity ;  for  to 
many  of  them  the  rite  shadowed  forth  more 
than  figurative  death  and  burial.  Some  aposta- 
tized :  it  could  hardly  be  otherwise  among  so 
many  thousands.  Many  were  faithful  to  death. 
Hundreds  fled  across  the  mountains  to  Arracan, 
and,  with  Mr.  Abbott's  help,  found  there  food 
and  shelter  and  religious  liberty.  They  had  just 
laid  out  a  new  village,  when  with  summer  came 
cholera,  and  very  many  of  them  in  the  strange 
climate  fell  victims  to  it,  or  were  driven  back 
panic-stricken  to  the  jungle,  to  die  there. 

"  '  My  hands  are  full  of  labor,  and  my  heart  full 
of  care,  sometimes  of  anguisJij  Mr.  Abbott  wrote 
in  May,  1844,  — '  nearly  a  thousand  baptized  con- 
verts, many  of  them  suffering  under  the  iron 
arm  of  a  ruthless  despotism  ;  two  hundred  fami- 
lies of  emigrants,  who  have  fled  from  persecu- 
tion, leaving  all  their  worldly  stores,  and  look- 
ing to  me  for  food  till  they  can  reap  a  har- 
vest ;  thirty  native  preachers  to  teach  and  guide 
and  govern  ;  two  ordained  pastors  to  watch  and 
tremble  over  ;  elementary  books  to  write  and 
translate :  add  to  this  a  sick  family,  and  not  a 
good  night's  rest  for  many  months.' 


172  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"Around  Akyab  there  were  everywhere  those 
hesitating  between  the  two  religions. 

"  From  the  Kemmees  there  came  one  day  a 
mountain  chief,  Chetza,  with  some  of  his  follow- 
ers. Mr.  Kincaid  talked  with  him.  He  listened 
with  the  usual  native  indifference ;  but  a  few 
weeks  later  there  came  a  letter,  signed  by  him 
and  thirteen  minor  chiefs,  begging  for  a  mis- 
sionary, offering  to  build  dwellings  and  school- 
houses  at  his  own  expense,  giving  the  names 
of  two  hundred  and  seventy-three  who  would  be 
scholars.  When  the  missionaries  visited  him, 
and  promised  to  try  to  grant  his  request,  he  was 
delighted. 

"  '  Your  decision  gives  me  more  joy  than  hun- 
dreds of  gold  and  silver,'  he  said  :  '  they  would 
soon  be  expended ;  but,  if  we  have  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  I  shall  die  in  peace.' " 

"Who  went  ? "  asked  Charlie. 

"  Nobody.  The  missionaries  already  there 
had  their  hands  full,  and  there  were  no  new 
ones.  There  are  no  words  to  express  the  feel- 
ings of  those  on  the  ground  as  they  saw  the 
tens  of  thousands  that  might  so  easily  be 
reached,  with  Buddhism,  Popery,  and  infidelity 
stretching  out  eager  hands  to  grasp  them,  and 
among  them  all  only  three  Christian  preachers. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  173 

" '  Must  this  promising  harvest  be  forever 
lost  ? '  wrote  Mr.  Stilson.  '  Can  not  and  will 
not  the  many  Baptist  Christians  in  America 
spare  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  their  tables 
for  the  famishing,  'dying  thousands  of  Arracan  ? ' 
wrote  Mr.  Comstock. 

"In  1843  Mrs.  Kincaid's  health  obliged  Mr. 
Kincaid  to  leave  with  her  for  America.  He 
took  with  him  two  of  Mrs.  Comstock's  children. 

" '  This  I  do  for  my  Saviour,'  she  said,  as  she 
looked  upon  them  for  the  last  time,  and  placed 
them  in  his  hands. 

" '  Remember,  brother,  six  men  for  Arracan,' 
was  Mr.  Comstock's  parting  message. 

"Before  it  reached  America,  Mrs.  Comstock 
was  called  to  the  work  above  ;  and  a  year  later 
the  death  of  Mr.  Comstock  left  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stilson  again  alone  in  Arracan." 

"  Were  the  Board  asleep  ?  What  were  they 
thinking  about,  that  they  didn't  send  the  men 
there  ? "  asked  Katie. 

"  In  the  first  number  of  the  '  Magazine '  for 
1846  there  is  an  article,  made  up  mainly  of  fig- 
ures and  statistics,  over  which  I  shed  more 
tears  than  I  ever  gave  to  a  novel.  In  it  the 
committee  of  the  Board  stand,  like  Mr.  Dustin 


174  OUR   GOLD-MINE, 

in  our  New-England  histories,  when,  with  the 
Indians  behind  and  his  children  before,  he  had 
to  decide  which  of  the  eight  little  ones  he  could 
save,  and  which  must  be  given  up  to  the  enemy. 
You  remember,  Edith." 

" '  Now  from  those  dear  ones  make  thy  choice.' 

The  group  he  wildly  eyed ; 
When  '  Father  ! '  burst  from  every  voice, 
And  '  Child ! '  his  heart  replied. 

There's  one  that  now  can  share  his  toil, 

And  one  he  meant  for  fame, 
And  one  that  wears  her  mother's  smile, 

And  one  that  bears  her  name. 

And  one  will  prattle  on  his  knee, 

Or  slumber  on  his  breast ; 
And  one  whose  joys  of  infancy 

Are  still  by  smiles  expressed." 

Edith  repeated  the  lines  slowly :  she  had 
learned  them  to  recite  at  school. 

"So,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft,  "the  committee 
compared  the  missions,  counting  the  cost,  the 
results,  the  prospects,  of  each,  to  decide  which 
should  be  abandoned.  This  one  was  abundant 
in  conversions,  that  in  inquirers ;  another  was 
less  fruitful.  But  could  they,  in  the  face  of  the 


OUR  GOLD-MINE. 


'75 


prayers  of  those  who  had  died  for  it,  abandon  it  ? 
Besides,  it  had  been  established  less  years  than 
passed  in  Burmah  before  the  first  conversion; 
and  the  cost  of  abandoning  the  Burman  and 
Karen  missions  they  dared  not  compute.  To 
another  their  faith  had  been  pledged ;  others 
were  the  only  hope  of  Christianity  in  wide  fields. 
But,  while  they  could  not  choose  between  the 
hungry  souls  crying  for  help  from  across  the 
water,  close  behind  them  pressed  the  enemy,  — 
a  growing  debt.  The  expenditures  of  the  society 
had  exceeded  its  receipts  by  forty  thousand 
dollars." 

"  And  American  church-members  called  them- 
selves Christians,  and  allowed  that  ? "  said  Katie, 
her  cheeks  flushing  with  indignation. 

"  What  would  you  have  given  if  you  had  been 
there  ? "  asked  Walter. 

"Every  thing.  Thousands,  if  I  had  had  it. 
How  could  any  Christian  help  it  ? " 

Walter  smiled. 

"  What  do  you  mean  ? " 

"  From  what  I  hear,  I  think  the  Board  is  in 
about  the  same  fix  to-day ;  and  I  suppose  there 
are  Khyens  and  Arracanese  still  living.  I  be- 
lieve I'll  write  to  Boston  to  know  whether  there 


i76 


OUR  GOLD-MINE. 


isn't  some  vacancy  in  the  treasury  that  ten  dol- 
lars would  just  fill." 

"  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself,  Wal- 
ter ! "  exclaimed  Charlie.  "  Katie's  been  saving 
up  that  ten  dollars  for  a  year  to  buy  a  pair  of 
chromos  for  her  room,  and  you  know  it." 

"Do  the  heathen  have  chromos  in  their 
rooms,  mother  ? "  asked  Edith. 

"  Thank  you,  Walter,"  Kate  whispered  as  she 
passed  him  and  went  up  stairs. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


SHADOW    AND    SUNLIGHT. 

HEN  Katie  went  up  stairs,  and  the  bare 
walls  of  her  room  faced  her,  and  the 
Karens  that  had  seemed  so  near  an 
hour  before  glided  back  to  their  homes  in  Bur- 
man  jungles,  it  was  not  so  easy  to  give  up  the 
chromos,  and  send  the  carefully  saved  ten  dollars 
to  the  heathen,  as  she  thought  it  when  she 
thanked  Walter  for  the  suggestion.  Still  she 
was  glad  she  had  thanked  him,  and  so  com- 
mitted herself. 

On  Sunday  morning  she  opened  her  desk  to 
take  the  money.  She  knew  just  where  to  lay 
her  hand  on  it.  It  was  in  an  old  purse,  —  just 
ten  dollars,  and  no  more  ;  and  yet,  opening  the 
porte-monnaie,  a  three  instead  of  a  ten  dollar  bill 
came  out  first.  But  there  was  the  ten  too. 

What  did  it  mean?     She  had  kept  her  desk 

177 


178  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 


• 


locked,  and  given  the  key  to  no  one,  except  — 
Of  course,  there  must  be  an  exception ;  and  now 
she  remembered  letting  Walter  have  it  the  even- 
ing before  "  to  borrow  an  envelope.""  She  knew 
where  the  money  came  from  now.  The  bill 
was  marked  simply,  "  For  the  heathen  ; "  but  it 
was  not  for  the  heathen  that  tears  of  joy  came 
to  her  eyes  as  she  guessed  its  history. 

"  Kate,  you  and  Walter  are  a  pair  of  geese," 
said  Charlie  the  next  evening. 

"  Why  ? " 

"  Why,  here  you've  put  all  you  had  into  the 
collection,  and  Walter  half  he  had  ;  and  it's  a 
fact,  that,  with  all  the  rich  men  in  our  church, 
there  wasn't  another  bill  larger  than  a  five  in 
the  box.  And  now  I  suppose  you  won't  have  a 
cent  to  lend  a  fellow  for  the  next  six  months.  I 
declare,  it  makes  me  hate  the  very  name  of 
missions." 

"  Perhaps  so ;  and  yet  if  it  were  an  Ameri- 
can mother  to  be  saved  from  the  funeral-pile,  — 
your  own,  for  instance, — or  Minnie  from  the 
alligators'  jaws,  you  would  not  hate  the  name." 

"Those  alligators  did  service  for  missions 
in  our  hymns  and  picture-books  twenty  years 
after  they  had  digested  their  last  baby ;  but 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  179 

they  are  played  out  now.  I  suppose  the  funeral- 
fires  must  be  used  to  kindle  missionary  zeal  a 
while  longer ;  but  they  haven't  kindled  any 
thing  else  for  the  past  thirty  years.  And,  now 
there's  no  such  great  work  to  be  done,  it  seems 
to  me  folks  might  keep  their  money  at  home.  I 
think  the  churches  are  beginning  to  look  at  it 
in  that  light." 

"It  were  better  the  mothers  had  been  left  to 
throw  them  to  the  Ganges,  than  that,  grown  to 
be  men,  they  should  be  offered  by  American 
Christians  on  the  altar  of  the  demon  of  covet- 
eousness." 

"  Such  things  never  were  done  among  the 
Buddhists,  where  your  money  has  gone,"  said 
Charlie. 

"  So  much  the  more  chance  for  the  money  to 
do  good,  then,"  Katie  answered. 

"  You  have  invested  wisely,"  said  Mrs.  Ban- 
croft. "  I  confess  the  story  has  a  new  interest 
to  me,  now  we  have  reached  the  time  when  I  be- 
gan to  give,  and  so  to  read  missionary  magazines 
as  I  would  the  reports  of  dividends  from  a  bank 
where  I  was  stockholder. 

"The  mission  to  Burmah  had  passed  its 
infancy ;  a  fact  that  involved  several  other 


i8o  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

serious  facts,  among  them  this,  —  that  it  is  not 
an  easy  thing  to  cut  the  clothing  of  the  growing 
youth  from  the  same  pattern  that  fitted  his 
babyhood.  When  Judson  was  reading  Pali, 
translating  Matthew,  and  gathering,  one  by 
one,  his  eighteen  converts  at  Rangoon,  there 
were  no  native  churches  in  the  neighborhood 
clamoring  for  pastors ;  no  schools  looking  to 
him  for  teachers ;  no  Karen  catechisms,  geogra- 
phies, histories,  and  trigonometries  to  be  made ; 
no  tracts  and  Bibles  begging  to  be  printed  ;  no 
untrained  assistants,  scattered  far  over  the 
country,  demanding  all  the  time  of  an  itinerat- 
ing missionary  to  supplement  their  labors,  and 
correct  their  blunders  ;  no  theological  seminary, 
preparing  teachers  for  those  whom  the  schools 
were  preparing  to  be  hearers.  His  work, 
though  hard,  was  simple.  All  this  was  changed 
now.  Mr.  Vinton  had  charge  of  a  parish  three 
or  four  times  as  large  as  all  New  England,  with 
no  railroads  to  take  him  from  station  to  sta- 
tion ;  while  a  region  of  heathen  Karens,  three  or 
four  times  larger,  beyond,  was  begging  him  to 
come  and  bring  them  'the  white  books.'  Mr. 
Binney  was  professor  of  every  thing  in  a  semi- 
nary of  theological  students,  —  not  the  angels 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  181 

we  often  expect  to  find  in  converted  heathen, 
but  very  imperfect  saints,  who  growled  about 
rations  and  accommodations,  and  taxed  his 
patience  by  occasional  frivolity,  very  much  after 
the  manner  of  some  American  students.  Both 
these  needed  help,  and  so  did  many  another. 
But  the  problem  was,  how  to  retain  what  help 
they  had.  To  do  this,  the  Maulmain  Karen 
mission  must  have  6,041  rupees.  It  was  allowed 
4,146.  No  more  could  be  expected  from  any 
quarter.  All  saw  that  something  must  be  done ; 
but  no  one  dared  to  do  it. 

"  At  last  Mr.  Binney  spoke :  '  I  move  that  the 
Sgau  Karen  boarding-school  be  dismissed,  and 
the  pupils  be  assisted,  as  far  as  may  be,  to  re- 
turn to  Burmah  Proper.' 

"  Dead  silence  followed.  No  one  seconded 
the  motion,  and  it  was  lost. 

"  He  spoke  again :  '  I  move  that  one-third  of 
all  the  assistants  in  Burmah  Proper,  and  one- 
fourth  of  all  the  other  Karen  assistants  con- 
nected with  this  station,  be  dismissed  from  and 
after  the  first  day  of  July  next.' 

"  Another  dead  silence. 

"  He  made  a  third  motion,  '  That  the  amount 
allowed  to  the  theological  seminary  be  reduced 


l8a  OUR  GOLD-MINE* 

to  five  hundred  rupees  for  the  year  1848,  and 
that  the  number  of  pupils  and  the  period  of 
study  be  adjusted  to  that  amount.' 

"  Again  no  one  spoke.  The  council  of  doc- 
tors, though  convinced  they  could  not  take  care 
of  the  whole  of  their  patient,  were  unable  to. 
decide  whether  head,  heart,  or  lungs,  could  best 
be  dispensed  with.  At  last  they  resolved  to  go 
on  as  they  were,  assuming  the  responsibility  for 
the  deficiency  themselves,  and  appealing  to  the 
Board  for  help.  Partial  relief  came,  but  not  till 
after  months  of  anxiety ;  and  Maulmain  was  but 
a  type  of  the  rest. 

"Time  brought  other  than  financial  changes. 
In  the  earliest  days  of  the  mission  the  Karens 
were  divided  into  two  classes,  —  those  who  had 
decided  to  embrace  Christianity,  and  those  who 
had  not.  Now  there  were  added  two  others,  — 
those  who  had  decided  not  to  embrace  it,  and 
those  who,  having  embraced  it,  had  turned 
against  it.  Both  these  were  usually  either  obsti- 
nately indifferent,  or  bitter  opposers.  A  similar 
though  less  marked  change  was  visible  among 
the  Burmans.  '  I  have  heard  your  religion 
from  the  time  of  its  first  arrival  in  Maulmain, 
and  I  do  not  like  it/  said  one  of  them  to  Mr. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  183 

Mason.  '  I  have  heard  teacher  Vinton  talk  a 
great  deal,  and  I  do  not  believe  a  word  he  says,' 
said  a  Karen  to  Mr.  Moore.  '  We  have  heard  a 
great  while,  and  do  not  want  to  hear  any  more,' 
said  a  company  in  another  place  to  Mr.  Brayton. 
The  time  when  curiosity  could  be  relied  upon  as 
an  aid  to  Christianity  was  plainly  past. 

"And  there  were  obstacles  in  the  disciples 
themselves.  In  founding  the  mission,  Judson 
did  not  have  to  meet  the  argument  from  the 
faults  of  professors  ;  for  there  were  none.  Now 
it  assailed  the  missionaries  everywhere. 

"  There  were  church-members  who  were  not 
converts  :  the  converts  were  only  converted  sin- 
ners, and  the  most  sincere  of  them  were  often 
ignorant. 

"  The  Karens  were  a  migratory  people.  Often 
a  chapel  would  be  built,  and  within  two  years 
left  wholly  alone  ;  while  those  who  worshipped 
in  it  were  scattered  far  over  the  country.  There 
the  missionaries  would  sometimes  find  them,  per- 
haps lights  in  the  wilderness,  guiding  others 
to  Christ;  perhaps  themselves  led  away  into 
arrack-drinking  and  sabbath-breaking.  Then 
they  would  repent  and  confess,  break  their 
arrack-bottles,  and  beg  with  tears  to  be  taken 


184  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

back  into  the  church,  till  the  missionaries  could 
hardly  find  heart  to  refuse  ;  yet  they  always  did 
refuse  till  the  transgressors  had  proved  their 
sincerity  by  their  lives. 

"  New  missionaries  came,  —  in  1847  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  William  Moore;  a  year  later  Mr.  Benja- 
min, Mr.  C.  C.  Moore,  Mr.  Van  Meter,  and  their 
wives  ;  in  1 849  Messrs.  Knapp  and  Campbell, 
with  their  wives,  and  Miss  Wright ;  and  in  1851 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas." 

"  It  seems  to  me,  that  with  sabbath-breaking, 
drunken  disciples,  obstinate  heathen,  cholera, 
small-pox,  and  short  funds,  the  new  missiona- 
ries had  rather  an  uninviting  prospect,"  said 
Katie. 

"  Fortunately  for  missions,  they  could  not  see 
what  they  were  going  to,"  remarked  Clarence. 
"  If  a  telescope  could  be  invented,  like  the 
Yankee's  gun  with  a  bent  barrel,  made  to  shoot 
round  corners,  and  the  missionaries  could  see 
over  or  around  the  world's  curve,  into  Burmah, 
before  embarking,  our  story  would  probably  be 
very  much  shortened." 

"That's  so,"  said  Charlie.  "But  the  disap- 
pointment must  have  been  all  the  greater  when 
they  arrived." 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  185 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft.  "  When  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Thomas,  after  spending  seven  months  in 
the  city  of  Tavoy,  went  out  into  the  jungle,  they 
were  disappointed  indeed.  Christian  villages 
entertained  them  ;  they  worshipped  in  Christian 
churches ;  they  knelt  in  prayer  in  Christian 
families  ;  they  attended  the  meeting  of  an  asso- 
ciation where  letters  from  seventeen  churches 
were  read,  and  native  Christians  framed  and 
passed  resolutions,  and  discussed  questions  of 
policy  as  appropriately  as  could  many  an  associa- 
tion in  America. 

" '  What  has  been  accomplished/  Mrs.  Thomas 
wrote,  <  is  far  more  important  and  extensive  than 
I  imagined  in  America.  Truly  the  Lord  has 
wrought  wonders  in  this  land.  Many  times, 
when  I  look  at  these  assemblies  of  converted 
heathen,  I  think  that  all  the  sacrifices  missiona- 
ries ever  made  are  amply  repaid.' 

"  Notwithstanding  the  grave  faults  of  the  con- 
verts, Mr.  Moore,  almost  on  his  first  arrival, 
could  write,  'The  line  of  distinction  between 
church-members  and  the  world  is  more  plainly 
marked  than  at  home.  We  seldom  have  to  ask 
an  individual  whether  he  is  a  disciple :  there  is 
something  in  their  countenance  and  deportment 
that  distinguishes  them.' 


i86  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  The  truth  is,  it  will  not  do  to  judge  the  sun 
by  its  spots,  especially  as  they  would  not  seem 
dark  but  for  the  sunlight  around  them.  And 
the  Burman  mission  had  its  bright  surface.  A 
year  made  a  great  change  in  the  Theological 
School :  the  frivolity  and  selfishness  that  had 
marked  too  many  of  its  pupils  were  gone. 
Often,  as  they  talked  together  of  the  sufferings 
of  Christ,  their  faces  would  be  averted  to  wipe 
away  the  tears  ;  and  questions  would  remain  for 
minutes  unanswered,  because  no  one  was  willing 
to  break  the  solemn  silence  of  the  room.  Such 
a  school  could  not  help  sending  forth  better 
pastors,  and  such  pastors  could  not  but  train 
better  churches. 

"  When  Mr.  Abbott  went  to  America,  he  left 
in  the  region  about  Sandoway  two  ordained 
ministers  and  twenty  native  assistants,  —  most 
of  them  in  Burmah  Proper.  The  ordained  pas- 
tors were  Myat  Kyau  and  Tway  Poh,  both  rare 
men  in  zeal  and  in  good  judgment.  Of  the 
latter,  Mr.  Beecher  wrote  as  follows  a  few  years 
later :  — 

" '  No  native  preacher  has  a  greater  or  better 
influence  abroad,  and  none  is  more  beloved  and 
respected  at  home.  As  we  passed  by  or  entered 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  187 

his  room  from  day  to  day,  and  saw  Tway  Poh  — 
the  Rev.  Tway  Poh,  we  should  say ;  for  no  min- 
ister was  ever  more  worthy  of  the  title  than  he 
—  sitting  by  his  table,  reading  and  studying,  or 
conversing  with  those  who  sought  his  advice, 
we  often  wished  that  our  brethren  and  sisters 
who  feel  such  an  interest  in  this  people  could 
experience  the  delight  that  we  did  as  the  ex- 
pression came  involuntarily  to  our  lips,  "How 
much  like  a  pastor  in  his  study  at  home !  "  ' 

"Under  such  care  the  work  went  on.  The 
pastors  baptized  more  than  a  thousand  in  Mr. 
Abbott's  absence ;  and,  when  he  returned  to  the 
field  in  1849,  he  could  report  an  association  of 
thirty-six  churches  with  forty-five  hundred  mem- 
bers, as  many  as  five  thousand  unbaptized  Chris- 
tians, and  all  supplied  with  the  means  of  grace, 
and  the  churches  so  trained  to  self-support,  that 
the  whole  cost  the  Union  but  little  over  three 
hundred  dollars. 

"The  Christian  village,  Ougkyong,  was  re- 
built, in  part,  on  a  more  healthy  site ;  and  Mr. 
Beecher,  visiting  it  in  1851,  reports  an  interest- 
ing covenant-meeting,  six  baptisms,  and  no 
cases  needing  discipline.  '  Some  of  the  mem- 
bers/ he  says,  'had  suffered  annoyance  by  the 


l88  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

neglect  of  others  to  watch  their  buffaloes,  but 
had  shown  such  Christian  forbearance,  that  no 
difficulty  arose.'  Substitute  hens  or  sheep  for 
buffaloes,  and  suppose  the  church  an  American 
one,  and  you  will  see  that  this  indicated  no 
mean  degree  of  growth  in  grace. 

"But.of  the  state  of  the  mass  of  the  Bassein 
converts  through  those  years,  tidings  came  only 
at  rare  intervals. 

"On  the  1 2th  of  April,  1850,  Dr.  Judson  died 
on  his  way  from  Maulmain  to  the  Isle  of  France. 
Thus  ended  thirty-seven  years  of  labor  for 
Christ.  Going  back  to  that  country  inn,  where, 
all  night,  the  powers  of  light  and  darkness 
struggled  for  the  direction  of  his  soul,  then 
looking  at  Burmah  to-day,  with  its  translated 
Bible,  its  more  than  three  hundred  churches,  its 
twenty  thousand  Christians,  its  ripened  fruit 
gathered  into  the  heavenly  garner,  and  then 
thinking  what  would  have  been  the  result  of 
that  life  if  the  decision  of  that  night  had  been 
for  infidelity,  we  tremble,  and  thank  God. 

"  In  1851  Mr.  Kincaid  came  back  from  Amer- 
ica with  Mr.  Dawson,  a  physician.  They  went 
at  once  to  Rangoon,  but  found  themselves  in  the 
midst  of  a  storm  of  opposition.  Disciples  had 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  189 

been  fined  and  imprisoned ;  the  natives  were 
afraid,  at  any  price,  to  rent  houses  to  missiona- 
ries. The  governor  placed  a  spy  over  Mr.  Kin- 
caid,  and  forbade  his  entering  a  single  house 
without  this  attendant.  It  was  rumored  that  he 
was  to  be  put  in  irons.  His  best  friends  dared 
not  recognize  him ;  and  even  the  coolies  in  the 
street  took  pains  to  jostle  him  rudely.  With 
much  help  from  grace,  and  perhaps  a  little 
from  nature,  he  was  able  to  resist  the  tempest 
till  the  governor  had  time  to  write  to  Ava. 
Then  there  came  an  order  from  '  his  Majesty, 
whose  glory  is  like  the  rising  sun,  whose 
chiefs  walk  under  golden  umbrellas,  the  King 
of  elephants,  and  Lord  of  many  white  ele- 
phants,' that  'the  American  teachers  should 
be  allowed,  if  they  wished,  and  at  any  time 
they  might  choose,  to  come  up  to  the  golden 
feet ;  or,  if  they  preferred  to  remain  at  Ran- 
goon, they  were  not  to  be  molested.' 

"The  change  was  instantaneous.  Insolence 
gave  place  to  profound  respect.  Visitors 
crowded  the  house.  Mr.  Kincaid  preached  to 
them  openly  and  fearlessly,  as  if  in  America: 
and  soon  the  people  had  a  chance  to  stare  at 
the  golden  umbrellas,  that  mark  a  priest  of  high- 


190  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

est  rank,  going  to  and  from  the  house  of  the 
missionaries  ;  for  the  king's  alchemist  and  astrol- 
oger from  Ava  had  taken  up  his  quarters  with 
him,  saying  he  'could  not  feel  easy  anywhere 
else.'  Even  the  governor  was  civil ;  and  once, 
when  passing  through  his  audience-room,  Mr. 
Kincaid  was  asked  the  question,  '  Are  you  one 
of  Jesus  Christ's  men  ? '  He  answered,  '  Yes, 
and  I  will  give  you  the  reason  ; '  and  for  nearly 
half  an  hour  preached,  unmolested,  to  the  com- 
pany of  thirty  gathered  there. 

"  Of  the  eighteen  baptized  by  Mr.  Judson 
during  his  first  stay  in  Rangoon,  two  lived  to 
welcome  the  new  missionaries,  —  Mali  Mee  and 
the  old  pastor  Ko  Thah-a.  Both  were  over 
eighty.  When,  in  1832,  Moung  Thah-a  knelt 
before  Mr.  Judson,  and,  with  folded  hands,  rev- 
erently begged  for  baptism,  neither  of  them 
dreamed  that  he  was  to  be  for  thirty  years,  and 
through  fiery  trials,  the  shepherd  and  strength 
of  the  hunted  Rangoon  flock. 

" '  The  teachers  have  come  and  gone,'  he 
said.  '  I  have  always  remained  here.  When  the 
teachers  left  Rangoon,  the  rulers  seized  me. 
They  commanded  me  not  to  preach.  They  said, 
"  Do  you  intend  to  preach  Jesus  Christ  ?  "  I 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  191 

said  to  the  rulers,  "  I  shall  preach :  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  true  God."  ' 

"  He  had  been  imprisoned,  fined,  put  in 
stocks,  and  swung  up  by  the  feet,  for  preach- 
ing Christ,  and  was  well  prepared  to  welcome 
new  laborers  into  the  field  he  was  now  too 
infirm  to  till.  Soon  the  Karens  of  the  towns 
around  caught  the  news,  and  came  in  to  see  if 
the  teacher  had  indeed  come.  This  was  not 
approved.  In  fact,  in  one  case  the  governor 
told  Mr.  Kincaid,  as  coolly  as  he  would  have 
spoken  of  eating  his  dinner,  that,  if  it  contin- 
ued, he  should  be  under  the  necessity  of  shoot- 
ing every  Karen  that  came  to  his  house,  except 
the  lame,  the  sick,  and  the  blind.  These  he 
dared  not  prohibit ;  for  Dr.  Dawson's  medical 
services  had  already  proved  too  valuable  to  be 
interfered  with.  Still  inquirers  multiplied,  and 
converts  from  both  Karens  and  Burmans  were 
added. 

"  One  morning,  about  six  months  from  the  time 
Mr.  Kincaid  reached  Rangoon,  there  appeared 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  a  fifty-gun  ship  and 
two  armed  steamers, —  not  a  very  alarming  sight 
in  itself  to  the  governor,  one  would  think.  But 
the  ghosts  of  murdered  British  subjects  haunted 


192  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

him,  and  for  a  few  days  he  was  almost  insane 
with  terror.  Perhaps,  too,  he  was  dimly  con- 
scious, that,  for  many  months,  the  prayers  of 
thousands  of  Christian  Karens  had  been  raising 
a  battery  against  him,  or  had  heard  their  words, 
'We  know  that  the  day  of  deliverance  is  at 
hand  ; '  for  one  of  his  first  threats,  when  he  had 
recovered  from  1iis  fright,  was,  that,  if  the  Eng- 
lish attacked  Rangoon,  the  Christian  Karens 
should  be  placed  in  the  front  of  the  battle. 

"Of  course,  the  one  ship  and  two  steamers 
were  not  sent  to  fight  the  Burmans.  Their  ob- 
ject was  to  ask  redress  for  outrages  upon  two 
British  captains.  Nevertheless,  the  long-looked- 
for  deliverance  had  come.  The  redress  was  not 
given.  Many  other  outrages  became  known  to 
the  commodore  ;  and,  in  six  weeks,  war  became 
almost  a  certainty.  With  great  difficulty  the 
missionaries  succeeded  in  leaving  with  the  Brit- 
ish fleet.  To  have  staid  would  have  been  cer- 
tain death. 

"  Three  months  later,  another  fleet  was  thun- 
dering at  the  gates  of  the  Burman  Empire. 
Martaban  fell  on  the  5th  of  April ;  Rangoon,  on 
the  1 4th.  Mr.  Kincaid  had  arrived  the  day 
before.  Mr.  Dawson  came  on  the  iSth  ;  and  in 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  193 

a  few  days  they  had  cleared  an  old  building 
of  its  idols  an'd  cobwebs,  and  were  again  receiv- 
ing disciples,  inquirers,  and  patients.  On  the 
20th  December,  1852,  Pegu  was  declared  a  part 
of  the  domain  of  Great  Britain. 

"  Long  after  Rangoon  was  as  safe  a  residence 
as  London,  the  interior  was  a  scene  of  terror. 
Bands  from  the  disorganized  Burman  army 
were  prowling,  burning,  and  shooting,  as  they 
went  over  the  country.  The  Karens  organized 
to  defend  their  homes.  Almost  daily,  news  of 
battle  between  them  was  brought  to  the  mis- 
sionaries at  Sandoway.  To  the  Burmans,  all 
Christians  were  counted  British  sympathizers. 
Many  were  pierced  with  swords,  beaten,  or  hung 
till  almost  dead,  for  being  readers  of  the  '  white 
book.'  One  aged  pastor  was  crucified.  Sixty 
of  his  flock  were  rescued  by  the  British  while 
digging  their  own  graves. 

"  The  Karens  gave  full  proof  of  bravery,  often 
driving  back  forces  much  larger  than  their  own. 
'  I  hear  but  one  account  of  them,'  wrote  the 
commissioner  of  Pegu,  '  that  on  all  occasions 
their  information  has  been  the  best,  and  their 
assistance  the  most  hearty.  We  must  not  for- 
get such  good-will  as  has  been  shown  us.' " 


194  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"But  you  haven't  told  a  word  about  Miss 
Macomber,"  said  grandpa  Sears,  "  how  she  went 
out  alone  among  those  drunken  Pwo  Karens  of 
Douggahn,  and  sometimes  there  wasn't  a  house 
for  miles  that  would  let  her  in  ;  and  they  set  fire 
over  and  over  to  the  house  she  lived  in.  And 
she  staid  there  three  years,  till  there  were 
twenty-six  Christians,  and  then  died.  And 
how  Knapp  tried  to  live  among  the  Nagas  ;  and 
how  we  sent  out  the  Haswells  and  Ingalls 
and  Braytons  and  Bullards  and  Ranneys  and 
Crosses." 

" I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  it  all"  said  Mrs. 
Bancroft.  "You  certainly  must  not  judge  the 
comparative  importance  of  the  work  done  by 
the  amount  of  time  I  give  to  the  separate  work- 
ers ;  for  there  are  many  whose  record  is  bright 
on  the  book  above,  but  whose  own  labors,  with 
their  results,  can  hardly  be  separated  from  those 
of  their  brethren.  But  you  shall  hear  from 
some  of  those  grandpa  has  mentioned  before 
long." 


CHAPTER   X. 

NEW    FIELDS. TOUNGOO,     SHWAYGYEEN,     HEN- 

THADA. 

| HEN  the  thought  of  becoming  a  mis- 
sionary first  presented  itself  to  Ida,  it 
received  very  decided  treatment  as  an 
intruder.  The  idea  of  becoming  a  cannibal 
would  hardly  have  seemed  more  unnatural.  But 
thoughts,  like  young  robins,  do  not  often  make 
their  appearance,  except  where  nests  have  been 
made  ready  for  them  ;  and  this  thought,  when 
it  had  forced  its  way  into  her  mind  and  claimed 
a  right  there,  found  that  through  the  months, 
undreamed  by  her,  a  nest  had  been  preparing 
for  it  so  exactly  fitted  to  it,  that,  in  less  than 
two  days,  it  was  entirely  at  home. 

Yet  it  did  not  seem  to  Ida  that  she  had 
changed  so  much,  but  rather  that  this  was  the 
work  for  which  she  had  been  made,  only  she 

195 


196  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

had  failed,  until  lately,  to  understand  herself. 
With  this  self-revelation  came  a  consciousness 
that  something  more  than  natural  fitness  for  the 
work  was  needed,  a  something- that  she  had  not; 
and  so,  through  weeks  of  silent,  anxious  conflict, 
her  purpose  lay,  •  as  she  supposed,  hid  in  her 
own  breast.  At  last  she  was  able  to  write  in 
her  journal,  "  I  do  desire  earnestly  to  do  God's 
work,  where  he  pleases,  when  he  pleases,  as  he 
pleases." 

That  evening  she  announced  her  plan  to  the 
family. 

"  I  think  I  shall  offer  myself  as  a  missionary." 

"  I  supposed  so,"  said  Walter. 

"  You  have  not  written  yet,  then  ? "  asked 
Mrs.  Bancroft. 

A   moment's  pause;   and  Katie   added,  "To. 
what  place  ? " 

What  did  it  mean  ?  It  had  cost  her  months 
of  preparation,  and  weeks  of  conflict,  to  be  able 
to  speak  those  words ;  and  the  family  received 
them  as  they  would  an  announcement  that  she 
was  going  to  a  tea-party.  If  she  had  felt  any 
desire  to  make  a  sensation,  she  would  have  been 
indignant.  As  it  was,  she  was  relieved,  but  a 
little  disappointed. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  197 

"  Mother  bought  an  extra  piece  of  cloth  for 
you  last  week,  so  she  could  be  making  it  up  for 
you,  because  you  were  going,"  said  Edith. 

"  But  I  did  not  know  I  was  going  myself  till 
yesterday,  if  I  am,"  said  Ida. 

"  I  supposed  not ;  but  mother  did  :  she  knows 
the  most  always." 

"  I  have  felt  sure  of  it  for  a  long  time,  Ida," 
said  Mrs.  Bancroft.  "  But  I  could  not  be  thank- 
ful for  it  at  first :  I  am  now." 

Tears  filled  Ida's  eyes.  They  did  not  misun- 
derstand her,  then,  but  had  known  her  better 
than  she  knew  herself  instead. 

"  We  are  ready  for  the  story,  mother,"  said 
Walter.  "  Ida  is  impatient  to  hear  about  her 
future  neighbors." 

"  The  Burman  emperor  was  lord  of  land  and 
water  no  longer :  his  last  inch  of  sea-coast  had 
been  taken.  Rangoon,  witness  to  the  torture 
of  so  many  British  subjects,  was  itself  British 
territory.  Bassein  —  the  home  of  Karen  heroes 
and  martyrs,  into  which  Abbott  had  cast  so 
many  longing  glances,  and  from  which  he  had 
received  so  many  hundreds  to  study,  to  be  bap- 
tized, often  to  die  —  now  lay  open  to  the  reapers  ; 
and  farther  north  lay  other  regions,  which 


198  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

might  be  inhabited  by  owls  or  Nats,  for  aught 
any  white  man  could  tell. 

"From  the  borders  of  one  of  these  darker 
regions  a  voice  had  come  three  years  before  the 
war.  Sau  Dumoo,  a  Karen  living  in  Toungoo, 
had  wandered  down  to  Tavoy.  There  he  be- 
came converted,  entered  the  Theological  School, 
and  now  was  eager  to  go  back  and  teach  his 
countrymen. 

" '  There  are  many  more  Karens  there  than 
here,'  he  said,  '  and  they  do  not  wander  about  as 
they  do  here.  A  man  will  build  his  house ;  and, 
when  his  daughter  marries,  she  takes  her  hus- 
band to  her  father's  house,  or  rather  adds  a  little 
to  the  old  house.  This  continues  many  years, 
till  a  few  of  these  houses  make  a  large  commu- 
nity.' 

"  Sau  Quala  was  intensely  interested,  and 
eager  to  go  with  Sau  Dumoo  to  explore  these 
unknown  regions.  At  the  meeting  of  the  asso- 
ciation in  1852,  they  together  presented  a  re- 
quest for  leave  to  go  as  missionaries  to  Toungoo. 
There  was  a  difficulty.  The  churches  about 
Mergui  looked  upon  Sau  Quala  as  a  father,  and 
claimed  the  rights  of  children.  They  had  heard 
of  his  intention,  and  sent  to  the  association  a 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  199 

protest,  signed  by.  every  one  of  the  assistants 
south  of  Tavoy,  and  by  their  churches.  What 
was  to  be  done  ?  No  other  was  so  well  fitted 
for  Toungoo,  or  so  much  needed  at  home,  as 
Sau  Quala.  'We  looked  at  the  subject  care- 
fully,' writes  Mr.  Thomas ;  '  we  spoke ;  we  wept ; 
we  prayed  ;  and  all  —  the  very  men  who  had 
signed  the  adverse  memorial  —  arose  with  tears, 
and  voted  to  approve  his-going? 

"  Sickness  and  war,  still  raging  in  Toungoo, 
delayed  his  going  for  a  year.  In  September, 
1853,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Mason  went  there. 

" '  I  consider  it  a  fixed  fact  that  you  cannot  go 
to  Toungoo ;  no  amount  of  preparation  would 
take  you  there  alive,'  were  the  encouraging 
words  of  a  letter  received  by  Dr.  Mason  the  day 
of  his  appointment  to  that  field.  The  war  was 
over  ;  but  bands  of  dacoits  —  a  class  of  robbers 
who  are  by  turns  petted,  tolerated,  or  cut  in 
pieces,  according  to  the  interest  of  the  Burman 
king  —  infested  river  and  country. 

"  Nineteen  days'  travel  through  regions  bris- 
tling with  reports  of  men  murdered,  and  villages 
robbed,  brought  the  Masons  within  the  walls  of 
Toungoo  city.  It  was  mainly  Burman  ;  but 
around  it  were  Khyens  and  Shans,  and  Karens 


200  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

of  every  sort.  Here  were  Sgaus,  like  their  kins- 
men in  Tavoy,  repeating  traditions  of  God's 
book,  and  waiting  the  coming  of  the  white  for- 
eigners ;  Pwos,  more  reserved  and  more  Buddh- 
istic ;  Karennees,  or  Red  Karens,  named  from 
the  color  of  their  garments,  —  a  new  tribe,  wholly 
distinct  from  both  Sgaus  and  Pwos ;  the  pant- 
wearing  Bghais,  from  whom  even  Burman 
avarice  had  never  collected  taxes,  for  the  reason 
that  no  Burman  entering  their  villages  ever 
came  out  alive,  and  to  whom  kidnapping  and 
murder  were  lawful  avocations ;  the  Taubya,  or 
dog-eating  Karens,  named  from  their  diet,  dimin- 
utive in  size  and  mind  ;  the  gentler  frock-wear- 
ing Bghais  ;  the  Pakus ;  and,  closely  allied  to  or 
included  in  these,  innumerable  smaller  clans, 
some  of  them  almost  own  cousins,  and  separated 
not  half  a  day's  journey  from  each  other,  yet 
wholly  unable  to  understand  each  other,  so 
rapidly  does  language  run  wild  when  not  tram- 
melled by  books. 

"Dr.  Mason  had  already  been  ordered  to 
America  by  his  physician  when  he  started  for 
Toungoo.  He  could  delay  no  longer.  In 
December,  Sau  Quala  came  ;  in  January,  1854, 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Mason  left. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  2OI 

"  And  now  Sau  Quala  was  left,  aided  only  by 
a  handful  of  unordained  assistants,  to  plant  and 
cultivate  the  Toungoo  mission.  Almost  imme- 
diately many  of  the  Karens  were  clamorous  for 
teachers.  He  stationed  Shapau  at  Hteedu,  a 
Bghai  village. 

" '  Let  us  have  a  teacher,'  said  the  people  of 
Theghadeu  as  they  came  with  presents  of  salt 
and  eggs  to  Sau  Quala. 

" '  But  I  have  but  one,  and  I  wish  to  leave 
him  at  Hteedu.  Send  some  from  your  village 
to  study  here ;  and,  when  they  can  read,  you  may 
teach  each  other,'  said  Sau  Quala. 

" '  But  let  him  come  to  us.  We  will  become 
Christians,  and  we  will  support  him  better  than 
the  people  of  Hteedu.' 

"  So  they  argued  for  a  whole  day  and  night ; 
till  Sau  Quala  said,  '  I  will  leave  teacher  Shapau 
to  stay  one  month  at  Hteedu,  and  then  another 
month  at  Theghadeu,  and  so  on  each  alternate 
month.'  This  satisfied  them. 

"  Some  of  the  Pakus  were  less  cordial. 

" '  Let  one  of  the  teachers  come  up  here,'  said 
the  chief  of  one  of  their  villages,  '  and  we  will 
make  two  or  three  holes  through  him  with  our 
spears ;  and,  if  he  does  not  die,  we  will  believe 
him,  and  worship  his  God.' 


202  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

« 

"  On  hearing  this,  an  assistant  set  out  at  once 
for  their  village. 

"  '  I  heard  you  were  going  to  pierce  me  with 
your  spears/  he  said.  '  I  am  here  now  :  if  you 
wish  to  pierce,  pierce.  I  trust  in  God,  and  have 
come  to  preach  his  words.'  They  were  dumb  ; 
listened  attentively ;  and  he  left  unharmed. 
Soon  two  teachers  were  sent  them. 

"  Sau  Quala  labored  incessantly.  He  made 
long  tours  among  the  mountains,  often  prostrat- 
ed by  fever,  sometimes  poisoned  by  insects  or 
strange  plants,  threatened  by  death  in  almost 
every  form,  but  having  no  thought  of  rest  while 
he  had  strength  to  work,  or  of  discouragement 
when  there  was  work  to  be  done.  His  wife  and 
child  were  sick,  and  he  longed  to  see  them. 
His  father-in-law  died  ;  but  he  could  not  afford 
a  visit  home.  The  British  commissioner  offered 
him  thirty  rupees  per  month  to  act  as  overseer 
among  the  Bghais,  Pakus,  and  wild  Karens. 

" '  I  cannot  do  that/  he  replied ;  '  I  cannot  do 
that  at  all.  I  have  no  use  whatever  for  the 
money.  There  are  others  to  do  this  thing : 
employ  them.  As  for  me,  I  will  continue  in 
the  work  in  which  I  am  engaged.' 

"  '  How  do  you  get  your  support  ?     Why  do 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  203 

you  not  want  money  ? '  asked  the  commissioner. 
'  We  will  give  you  money,  and  you  can  still  be 
a  teacher.  Will  not  this  be  easy  for  you  ? ' 

"  '  No,  my  lord,'  answered  Sau  Quala :  'I  eat 
my  food  with  poor  people,  and  am  content.  I 
did  not  leave  my  beloved  wife  and  child,  and 
come  to  this  distant  place,  to  get  money  and  eat 
delicious  food :  I  came  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  poor,  that  they  may  be  saved.  If  I  perform 
the  duties  of  a  n'kau  (superintendent),  these 
wild  Karens  will  become  my  enemies.' 

"  'Think  upon  the  subject  two  or  three  days 
before  you  decide  finally,'  said  the  commissioner. 

"Sau  Quala  thought;  found  two  Christian 
headmen  to  take  the  place  ;  and,  greatly  relieved, 
went  on  with  his  unpaid  work  as  before. 

"  Within  twenty-one  months  from  that  time  he 
baptized  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty 
persons  ;  yet  his  journal  shows  even  greater 
caution  in  examining  candidates  than  was  com- 
mon among  white  missionaries.  Here  there 
are  '  several  applicants  ; '  but  none  are  received, 
because  they  '  are  recent  converts.'  There,  out 
of  a  large  number,  two  are  admitted;  in  the 
next  place  nineteen  ;  in  the  next  none  ;  for  they 
'had  changed  their  teacher,  so  there  were  no 


204 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  205 

satisfactory  means  of  knowing  the  state  of  their 
minds  ; '  and  some  of  the  women,  finding  their 
fowls  'killed  by  children,  '  had  been  so  provoked 
as  to  sin  with  their  lips.'  And  in  the  next,  again, 
none ;  for  their  old  feuds  were  not  wholly  given 
up.  In  the  next,  twenty-four  out  of  eighty  were 
received;  the  rest  postponed  'on  account  of 
ignorance.'  None  were  admitted  to  baptism 
without  several  distinct  examinations  at  distant 
times. 

"When  Dr.  Mason  returned  in  1857,  he 
found,  in  the  region  which  he  had  left  utterly 
dark,  two  associations  of  churches,  ninety-five 
preaching-stations,  and  twenty-six  hundred  bap- 
tized Christians,  besides  many  more  unbaptized. 
Among  the  Bghais,  feuds  which  had  separated 
their  villages  farther  from  each  other  than  from 
America,  making  it  death  for  a  resident  of  one 
to  enter  another,  melted  away  into  friendship. 
Footpaths  were  made  between  them.  The 
thirst  for  arrack  gave  place  to  the  thirst  for 
books.  They  built  their  own  chapels,  supported 
their  own  schools,  and  gave  liberally  to  the  work 
beyond.  Their  young  men  went  everywhere, 
preaching, — for,  among  the  Karens,  a  man  no 
more  requires  a  license  to  preach  than  to  pray, 


206  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

—  living  upon  the  poorest  fare  ;  sometimes  work- 
ing as  coolies  a  part  of .  the  time,  that  they 
might  have  funds  to  preach  the  remainder. 
Nothing  surprised  Dr.  Mason  more  than  the 
number,  talent,  and  familiarity  with  Scripture, 
of  these  suddenly  raised-up  native  preachers. 

"  '  When  I  stand  on  these  mountain-tops,'  he 
writes,  '  and  see  now  two,  anon  three,  and  then 
five  clusters  of  Christian  habitations,  I  feel,  like 
the  Queen  of  Sheba,  "  the  half  was  not  told."  I 
could  not  convey  to  a  congregation  in  America 
an  adequate  conception,  that  would  be  credited, 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  work  effected.  Were 
the  Union  to  beeome  bankrupt,  and  all  the 
missionaries  to  return  home,  it  would  go  on 
without  our  aid  as  certainly  as  the  dawn 
increases  to  the  perfect  day.' 

"  On  one  occasion,  a  company  of  young  Brit- 
ish officers  rambled  out  into  the  Toungoo  jungle 
for  pleasure,  and  returned,  pronouncing  the  Ka- 
ren Christians  '  hypocrites.'  They  had  reached 
one  of  their  villages  on  Sunday,  and  found  it 
impossible  by  any  effort  to  hire  a  boat  till  the 
next  morning. 

"  '  Is  that  all  ? '  asked  a  pious  officer.  '  Was 
there  nothing  else  wrong  in  their  conduct, 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


207 


except  that  they  refused  to  let  their  boat  on 
Sunday  ? ' 

" '  Why,  no,'  was  the  constrained  admission. 
Both  boat  and  men  were  ready  to  serve  them  on 
Monday  morning. 

" '  Then  they  were  only  consistent,'  said  the 
brigadier. 

"  Indeed,  none  appreciated  the  wonderful 
change  more  than  the  government-officers,  and 
through  them  liberal  aid  was  obtained  for  the 
schools. 

"  '  The  commissioner  seems  about  as  great  an 
enthusiast  as  you  deem  me,'  writes  JDr.  Mason 
after  a  visit  from  Major  Phayre.  '  He  remarked 
at  parting,  "  I  can  assure  you  I  came  with  high 
anticipations  ;  but  I  have  been  truly  surprised  at 
what  I  have  seen."  ' 

"Mr.  Whitaker'came  from  Maulmain  a  few 
months  before  Dr.  Mason  arrived  ;  labored  in 
Toungoo,  surrounded  sometimes  by  hundreds  of 
eager  listeners,  for  two  years  ;  and  then  died, 
rejoicing  that  God  had  brought  him  to  Burmah 
to  see  what  he  had  seen. 

"  Among  the  Bghais,  '  wildest  of  the  wild,' 
there  were,  at  the  close  of  1861,  nearly  two 
thousand  members.  Mr.  Cross,  who  had  joined 


208  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

the  mission  nearly  two  years  before,  writes  of 
attending  an  association  among  them,  more 
quiet  and  orderly  than  any  three  or  four  days' 
camp-meeting  in  America ;  and  well  asks,  '  Why 
were  these  thousand  or  more  of  wild  Bghais 
now  so  sober,  so  orderly,  so  intent  on  hearing 
rebukes  of  sin,  and  exhortations  to  honesty, 
justice,  and  holiness  ? '  The  whole  number  of 
church-members  in  Toungoo  was  at  that  time 
four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-three ; 
but  they  represented  a  Christian  population  of 
twenty  thousand. 

"  But  now  a  dark  cloud  came  over  Toungoo. 
The  Christian  Karens  found  themselves  sudden- 
ly in  the  midst  of  a  war  between  the  British 
government  and  a  heathen  chief.  Their  villages 
were  burned,  their  women  and  children  carried 
into  slavery,  their  schools  broken  up,  their  fields 
abandoned  for  the  camp. 

"  The  contest  was  short ;  but,  before  its  smoke 
had  cleared  away,  the  infant  churches  were  called 
to  a  far  more  perilous  spiritual  conflict.  Mrs. 
Mason,  partially  deranged  in  mind,  imagined 
that  there  had  been  revealed  to  her  a  new  lan- 
guage, written  in  the  fig\ire  of  the  carpet,  in  the 
lines  of  the  human  face,  in  the  symbols  of  the 


OUR  GOLD-MINE. 


209 


Buddhist  religion,  and  in  almost  every  object  in 
nature,  —  a  language  which  men  needed  only  to 
learn  in  order  to  become  Christians  ;  which  the 
heathen  needed  only  to  learn,  to  see  that  they 
were  already  worshipping  the  true  God.  By  it 
she  could  read  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  the 
form  of  the  Buddhist  pagoda,  and  the  New  Tes- 
tament in  Karen  dresses  and  sacks.  To  teach 
it  to  the  world  she  now  considered  her  great 
mission. 

"The  Karens  knew  nothing  of  the  refined 
forms  of  monomania  peculiar  to  civilized  coun- 
tries. To  them,  one  who  was  not  crazy  was 
sane.  In  Toungoo,  as  in  America,  there  are 
two  classes  .of  church-members,  —  those  who 
study  the  Bible  for  themselves,  and  those  who 
accept  the  interpretation  of  it  given  them  by 
their  teachers.  To  many  of  the  latter  class  the 
new  'God  language'  seemed  a  revelation  fresh 
from  heaven.  I  sometimes  wonder  what  the 
Galatian  church  would  have  done  if  the  terrible 
hypothesis  of  the  apostle  —  'If  I,  or  an  angel 
from  heaven,  teach  any  other 'gospel' — had  be- 
come a  reality ;  how  many  of  them,  when  called 
to  choose  between  Christ  and  him  who  had 
taught  them  Christ,  would  have  chosen  rightly. 


210  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

It  seems  less  strange,  that,  in  a  like  trial,  many 
of  the  Karens  failed,  than  that  a  majority  of 
them  still  held  the  old  faith ;  but  it  was  only  a 
majority. 

"  Directed  by  Mrs.  Mason,  the  accepters  of 
the  God  language  refused  Sau  Quala,  and  the 
other  preachers  who  rejected  it,  admission  to 
their  pulpits,  or  even  to  their  houses.  Churches 
wer»  divided ;  schools  were  given  up  ;  and  hea- 
then villages  on  the  point  of  turning  to  Chris- 
tianity looked  at  this  new  development,  paused, 
and  turned  back.  At  last  an  entire  separation 
was  thought  necessary.  A  new  association  was 
formed  among  the  Pakus,  and  another  among 
the  Bghais.  In  1865  the  connection  of  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Mason  with  the  Missionary  Union  closed. 

"  It  is  easier  to  break  than  to  mend  is  more 
terribly  true  among  spiritual  things  than  among 
temporal.  In  the  years  that  followed,  through 
the  efforts  of  the  missionaries,  now  and  then  an 
individual,  a  pastor,  sometimes  a  church,  saw  its 
error,  and  repented ;  and  the  faithful  native  pas- 
tors gathered  fresh  energy  from  the  trial,  and 
went  out  as  in  the  early  times  when  the  contest 
was  only  w;th  heathenism.  The  Karens  who 
held  to  the  old  faith  realized  as  never  before  the 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  211 

necessity  of  Bible  study ;  and  Sunday  schools 
were  everywhere  organized.  In  1867  we  begin 
to  hear  again,  now  of  one  hundred  and  eighteen 
baptized  by  one  preacher  on  a  tour,  and,  soon 
after,  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  by  another ; 
then  of  a  teacher  going  alone  to  a  village  that 
seemed  a  mere  nest  of  writhing  vipers,  and 
working  till  they  were  '  among  the  kindest- 
acting  and  most  pleasant-looking  people  in  the 
mountains.'  But  these  cases  were  exceptions. 
Division  of  feeling  and  interest  among  believers 
would  not  bear  a  different  fruit  in  Toungoo 
from  that  which  comes  from  the  same  tree  when 
planted  in  America ;  and  for  some  years  revivals 
hardly  kept  pace  with  declensions  ;  the  interest 
in  the  jungle  schools  slackened  ;  many  of  the 
native  preachers  lost  their  early  zeal,  and  disci- 
pline was  neglected. 

"In  1869  there  came  the  first  convert  from 
the  Red  Karens.  For  months  he  had  believed, 
but  feared  to  profess  it,  lest,  going  back  among 
his  countrymen,  he  should  yield  to  temptation, 
and  dishonor  Christ. 

"  '  Teacher,'  he  said  with  tears  in  his  eyes  the 
evening  before"nis  baptism,  '  I  have  asked  bap- 
tism :  I  want  you  all  to  pray  for  me.' 


212  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  And  then,  as  one  after  another,  visitors  from 
his  own  people,  came  in,  he  told  them  his  story, 
and  met  only  laughter. 

" '  Oh,  how  dark  my  people  are !.'  he  said : 
'  they  know  nothing  but  darkness.' 

"  But,  just  before  his  baptism,  there  came  a 
letter  from  his  wife :  '  Study  hard,  and  do  not 
fear  for  me.  If  you  can,  come  home  in  the  dry 
season,  and  help  me  get  my  rice ;  but  do  not 
come  until  you  have  learned  all.  I,  too,  am 
resolved  to  leave  off  evil,  and  do  right.' 

"  Soon  we  find  him  laboring  earnestly  among 
his  people.  Eleven  of  them  have  since  been 
baptized ;  and  S'au,  their  pioneer  missionary,  has 
within  the  past  year  (1876)  been  ordained. 

"In  1871,  Dr.  Mason,  who  for  many  months 
had  been  laboring  to  restore  harmony  to  the 
churches,  became  again  a  missionary  of  the 
Union. 

"  '  If  there  is  to  be  peace,  we  will  repair  our 
chapel,  and  again  support  our  teacher,'  was  the 
comment  of  more  than  one  wounded  and  wither- 
ing church. 

"  In  January,  1 872,  came  the  brightest  day 
Toungoo  had  known  for  years.  **The  two  Bghai 
associations  came  joyfully,  cordially,  and  thor- 


GOLD-MINE.  213 

oughly  together ;  and  I  think  among  the  angels 
was  as  glad  a  song  of  triumph  that  day  as 
•when,  seventeen  years  before,  they  greeted  the 
entrance  of  the  first  Toungoo  converts  into 
the  heavenly  kingdom. 

"  The  work  of  re-union  proceeded  more  gradu- 
ally among  the  Pakus ;  but  by  February,  1873, 
Mr.  Cross  was  able  to  write,  — 

"  '  There  are  now  but  few  churches  that  follow 
Mrs.  Mason  ;  and  it  is  safe  to  say,  that  all  that  do 
follow  her  do  so  as  a  mark  of  their  apostasy,  or 
return  to  heathenism.' 

"In  1874  Dr.  Mason  finished  his  work  on 
earth,  but  not  till  he  had  seen,  as  the  result  of 
the  union  of  his  own  labors  with  those  of  Dr. 
Cross  and  Mr.  Bunker,  fifteen  new  preachers 
located,  a  dozen  chapels  built  or  rebuilt,  a  spirit 
of  work  unknown  for  years  stirring  among  the 
disciples,  and  a  spirit  of  inquiry  (also  long 
unknown)  enkindled  among  the  heathen. 

'"  During  that  year  and  the  next,  the  whole  field 
suffered  greatly  from  famine.  Vast  armies  of 
rats  swept,  three  or  four  times  in  succession, 
over  fields  that  had  supported  twenty  thousand 
Karens,  often  destroying  a  whole  field  in  a 
night.  Among  the  heathen,  hundreds  died  of 


214  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

starvation;  and  the  Christians  suffered  much, 
and  were  greatly  scattered. 

"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crumb  joined  the  mission 
early  in  1877.  Mr.  Bunker  has  just  completed  a 
thorough  re-organization  of  the  Bghai  churches. 
They  now  number  2,068  members,  and  the  Pakus 

1,843- 

"  Sau  Dumoo,  who  first  interested  Sau  Quala 
in  Toungoo,  was  sowing  and  reaping  at  once  in 
a  neighboring  field.  At 

SHWAYGYEEN 

Mr.  Harris  commenced  a  mission  to  the  Ka- 
rens in  1853.  In  the  first  year  of  the  mission 
five  hundred  and  seventy-seven  were  baptized, 
five  hundred  of  them  by  Sau  Dumoo ;  and  by 
1860  the  Shwaygyeen  Association  numbered 
more  than  twelve  hundred  members.  But  the 
station  proved  sickly.  Mrs.  Harris  died  very 
soon  after  reaching  it.  In  1856  Mr.  Harris's 
health  failed ;  Mrs.  Miranda  Vinton  Harris,  his 
second  wife,  and  one  of  the  most  successful 
missionaries,  died  ;  and  he  left  the  mission,  and 
in  1858  closed  his  connection  with  the  Union. 
Mr.  Watrous's  health  soon  failed,  and  for  six 
years  Shwaygyeen  was  left  without  a  mission- 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  215 

ary.  The  state  of  the  sheep  thus  left  in  the 
wilderness  is  best  described  by  one  of  their  own 
pastors,  writing  in  1865  :  — 

"  BELOVED  BRETHREN  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  AND 
CITIES,  IN  EVERY  PLACE,  —  I  desire  to  write  you  a  few 
words  about  the  disciples  of  Christ  in  Shwaygyeen.  To 
every  one  who  may  see  this  letter  we  would  say,  Bear 
with  us,  and  pray  to  God,  our  Lord,  for  us ;  for  we  here 
in  Shwaygyeen  have  no  missionary  teacher  to  instruct, 
encourage,  or  help  us,  as  they  have  in  other  places. 

"  We  are  like  orphans,  —  bereft  of  father  and  mother ; 
left  desolate,  sleepy,  and  hungry  :  in  other  words,  we  are 
like  the  wounded  and  fallen,  without  a  physician.  The 
reason  of  sorrow  is  this.  During  the  year  some  have 
apostatized  from  the  living  God,  and  returned  to  the 
customs  of  their  forefathers  ;  some  have  become  unstable, 
and  are  wavering  and  restless,  like  the  waves  .of  the  sea : 
therefore,  beloved  brethren  in  every  place,  bear  with  us, 
and  help  us  by  your  prayers.  Teacher  Cross  of  Toun- 
goo  does  all  he  can  for  us  ;  and  through  him  we  receive 
New  Testaments  and  hymn-books. 

"  During  the  year  1 865  we  have  been  consulting  how 
to  get  back  our  beloved  teacher  Harris  from  America. 
We,  the  disciples  of  Shwaygyeen,  have  collected  two 
hundred  rupees  toward  paying  the  passage  of  teacher 
Harris.  Therefore,  clear  brethren  and  sisters  in  every 
place,  great  and  small,  male  and  female,  have  pity  upon 
us,  pray  for  us,  and  assist  us  to  get  back  our  teacher. 

"(Signed)  "TEACHER  PAH  Moo." 


2l6  OUR  GOLD-MtNE. 

"  Of  course  Mr.  Harris  was  re-appointed,  and 
went  ;  and,  though  Shwaygyeen  had  shared 
largely  the  sufferings  of  her  twin-sister  in  the 
north,  when  he  arrived  there  (in  1 866)  he  found 
its  churches  all  '  righted  up  once  more,  and  tak- 
ing the  Bible  only  as  their  guide.' 

"  Mr.  Harris  worked  on,  with  no  white  assist- 
ant except  his  wife,  for  eight  years.  In  1870 
Sau  Dumoo,  his  closest  companion,  died.  The 
next  year  the  failure  of  Mrs.  Harris's  health 
compelled  her  to  leave,  and  he  was  for  a  time 
quite  alone.  But  the  pastors  proved  true  assist- 
ants, and  of  their  own  accord  proposed  raising 
a  £und,  above  all  ordinary  contributions,  which 
should  make  them  independent  of  foreign  aid, 
except  specific  donations.  In  1872  Kah  Cher,  a 
young  Karen  who  had  just  graduated  at  Madi- 
son University,  joined  the  mission  ;  and,  at  the 
close  of  1874,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hale  arrived  as 
missionaries  to  the  Burmans  of  Shwaygyeen. 
There  are  now  eight  hundred  and  sixteen  Ka- 
ren church-members. 

HENTHADA. 

"Henthada,  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
above  Rangoon,  was  not  unlike  Toungoo.  Here, 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


217 


in  1854,  Mr.  Thomas  looked  over  an  apparently 
unbroken  waste  of  heathenism,  asking,  '  Can 
any  thing  turn  this  mass  of  mind  to  the  truth  ? ' 
"  Very  soon  visitors  nocked  in,  inquiring  for 
the  'lost  books.'  A  few  weeks'  later,  Mr. 
Thomas  found  three  who  were  already  Chris- 
tians. They  had  been  baptized  ten  years  before 
by  Aupaw,  a  teacher  sent  out  by  Mr.  Abbott. 
'They  took  Mr.  Thomas  to  their  house,  showed 
him  their  little  library,  —  a  catechism,  an  old 
worn  hymn-book,  and  a  few  New-Testament 
leaves,  —  and  then  brought  to  him  two  other 
families,  eight  in  all,  whom  they  had  led  to 
Christ.  These  eight  were  baptized.  There  was 
no  house  large  enough  to  hold  even  that  little 
church  :  so  they  Celebrated  their  first  commun- 
ion under  a  buffalo-shed.  Mr.  Thomas  prayed 
earnestly  that,  'the  little  one  might  become  a 
thousand.'  At  the  close  of  1856  his  prayer  was 
half  answered  :  it  had  become  five  hundred. 
The  ingathering  had  not  been  rapid  as  in  Toun- 
goo  ;  but  the  foundations  had  been  strongly  laid. 
"Then,  again,  the  cry  for  retrenchment 
echoed  through  all  the  outposts  in  Burmah. 
Funds  from  America  had  failed.  There  was  no 
money  to  build  the  house  which  Mr.  Thomas 


218  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

must  have  in  order  to  live  in  Henthada.  It  was 
intimated  that  he  might  be  obliged  to  return  to 
Maulmain. 

" '  Tell  the  disciples  of  Jesus,'  Mr.  Thomas 
replied,  'if  they  cannot  afford  me  five  hundred 
dollars  to  build  me  a  house,  I  must,  nevertheless, 
remain  here,  though  it  cost  me  my  life.  Yes,  I 
would  rather  occupy  a  Karen  house  than  leave 
my  field  of  labor.  I  came  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  heathen,  and  my  brethren  at  home  prom- 
ised to  support  me  here.  I  spend  my  life  as  I 
agreed  to  do,  with  or  without  their  support.' 

"  The  work  grew  more  rapidly  now :  the  de- 
mand for  teachers  and  preachers  was  constant. 
Mr.  Thomas  could  no  longer  wait  to  have  them 
educated,  but  sent  them  out  almost  as  soon  as 
they  could  say,  '  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt-be  saved ; '  and  the  gospel 
news  found  new  channels  for  itself  daily. 

"  Once,  as  Mr.  Thomas  was  sailing  up  the 
Irrawadi  toward  the  place  where  he  planted  the 
first  little  church,  he  heard  strains  of  music.  It 
was  the  tune  of  '  Happy  Land,'  and  the  words 
were 

'  Yay  Shu  quai  plah  pa  Shu  dai  boh.' 
('  Jesus  pardons  all  our  sins.') 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  2I 

Strange  words  for  so  wild  a  place.      He  turned 
m   he  dlrectlon  of  the  mus.c_     A  Karen 

mother  was   smging   the   hymn   as  a    lullaby. 
*  ;  and  all  through  Henthada  he  knew  there 
Christian  mothers  singing  their  children 
<Ieep  wnh  gospel  hymns.     It  was  no  time  to 
On  another  tour  within   the  limits   of 
'ssem    he  found    an   aged   saint,  •  unusually 
jjr  m  appearance,  and    heavenly-minded,' 
he  wife  of  the  first  convert  and  apostle  among 
the   Karens,  -Ko  Thah-byu.     Mergui,  Tavoy 
Maulmam,  Rangoon,  and  Arracan,  all  spoke   to 


"* 
"And  there  was  no  retrenchment,  nor  need 


faileT          r,  es    ara°^ 

led  ,   for  God  sent  especial  help.     One  hun- 

rupees  came  from   England  ;   eleven  hun- 

red  from  cities  in  Bengal,  whose  streets  were 

yet  red  with  the  blood  of  the  Sepoy  war.     Funds 

from  unknown  friends   in  America,  and 

rom  Bnt,sh  officers  in  Burmah,  and  from   the 

nd  Iiberal 


;  In  i860  Mr.  Thomas  received  a  communi- 
on from  the  British  deputy  commissioner  of 


220  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

Henthada,  always  kind  and  liberal,  in  regard  to 
a  petition  he  had  received,  asking  exemption 
from  taxation  for  thirty-four  men  claiming  to  be 
•  Christian  teachers  in  Henthada.  It  greatly 
puzzled  him ;  for  he  could  not  imagine  there 
was  really  any  such  number  of  bona  fide  teach- 
ers in  a  mission  that  had  sprung  up  under  his 
own  eyes.  How  many  hours  per  day  did  these 
men-  teach  ?  what  else  did  they  do  ?  who  sup- 
ported them  ?  Mr.  Thomas  assured  him  that 
there  were  more  than  thirty-four  Christian 
teachers  in  Henthada  ;  that  these  had  no  other 
employment ;  that  they  were  supported  mainly 
by  Christian  Karens  in  the  district,  but  partly 
by  friends  in  America,  and  British  residents  in 
Burmah,  among  whom  the  deputy  commissioner 
of  Henthada  stood  the  most  prominent. 

"Three  years  later  he  could  report  seventy- 
five  preachers,  and  a  membership  of  eighteen 
hundred,  supporting  their  own  schools,  and 
nearly  all  their  own  preachers ;  and  1 866 
brought  news  of  deeper  interest,  and  marked 
revivals  in  many  of  the  churches. 

"Early  in  1866  Mr.  Thomas  left  Henthada 
for  America.  On  reaching  Rangoon,  he  learned 
that  the  departure  of  Mr.  Beecher  —  who  had 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  221 

been  laboring  there,  not  in  connection  with  the 
Union  —  had  left  the  Sgau  Karens  of  Bassein 
without  a  missionary.  The  call  was  loud  for 
some  one.  Mr.  Thomas,  knowing  that  he 
perilled  his  life  by  the  delay,  but  hoping  even  so 
slight  a  change  might  restore  health,  accepted  it, 
but  was  obliged  to  leave  after  one  year,  and 
reached  America  only  to  die  there. 

"  Mr.  D.  A.  W.  Smith  succeeded  him  in 
Henthada.  His  first  work  was  a  tour  among 
the  churches.  At  Kyantmau,  as  he  was  walk- 
ing in  the  gray  twilight,  he  was  startled  by  a 
shrill  exclamation :  '  So  you  have  not  deserted 
us,  teacher,  though  God  has.'  It  came  from  an 
old  woman  approaching. 

" '  Oh !  do  not  say  so,  aunt.  What  do  you 
mean  ? ' 

» 

" '  During  the  rains  one  died,  and  another,  and 
then  another,  and  now  my  neighbor's  grown-up 
daughter.  If  God  loved  us,  he  would  not  afflict 
us  so.' 

"  The  whole  village  had  been  troubled  by  the 
thought ;  and  a  whisper  had  spread  among  them, 
that,  for  such  as  died  suddenly,  there  was  no 
hope.  Trembling,  they  asked,  '  Is  this  true  ? ' 

"  It  was  worth  a  long  journey  to  see  the  light 


222  OUR  GOLD-MINE.       . 

that  spread  from  face  to  face  as  one  after  an- 
other caught  from  the  missionary  the  thought 
that  trials  are  a  proof 'of  love,  —  God's  costliest 
gifts. 

"  Farther  on,  a  mother  lay  dying.  Her  son, 
Shway  Lay,  was  at  the  seminary  in  Rangoon. 

" '  Do  not  let  him  know  of  my  illness ;  it 
would  intefere  with  his  studies,'  she  said. 

"  So,  heroically,  she  passed  away  without  the 
sight  of  her  son. 

"  So  weakness  and  strength  alternate  among 
the  Karen  Christians. 

"  A  little  later,  Mr.  Smith  met  Shway  Lay  at 
the  association.  It  was  now  vacation. 

"  '  Do  you  wish  to  go  to  your  village  to  spend 
two  or  three  months  there  ? '  asked  Mr.  Smith. 

" '  I  would  rather  be  sent  to  preach  among 
the  heathen.' 

"  Others  expressed  the  same  wish. 

"  '  Look  here,  brother/  said  the  missionary  to 
a  native  pastor :  '  see  what  spirit  is  fostered  at 
the  seminary.  These  young  men  have  been 
absent  nine  months  ;  yet  none  of  them  wish  to 
go  home,  except  for  a  visit  of  a  day  or  two,  but 
choose  rather  to  be  sent  here  and  there  preach- 
ing to  the  heathen.  What  shall  we  do  with 
them  ? ' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  223 

'"Why,  we  must  send  them,  of  course,  and 
raise  the  money  at  once.' 

" '  The  six  hundred  rupees  just  given  in  by 
the  churches  might  do.' 

" '  That  indeed ;  but  I  want  to  do  something 
special  in  answer  to  this  special  call.' 

"  By  this  time  a  group  had  gathered. 

" '  I  will  put  down  my  name  for  five  rupees,' 
said  one. 

" '  And  I  three.' 

"  '  And  I  two.' 

"  In  a  few  minutes  sixty-five  rupees  had  been 
raised. 

" '  Can  we  not  have  a  weekly  contribution  of  a 
pice  each  from  the  church-members  ?  A  pice 
is  so  small,  that  they  could  do  that  without  giv- 
ing the  less  in  the  regular  contributions,'  pro- 
posed one  of  the  disciples  a  year  or  two  later. 

"That  year,  their  regular  contributions  for 
schools,  chapels,  and  kindred  objects,  had  been 
4,981  rupees.  The  next  year,  the  pice  system 
alone  brought  in  five  hundred  rupees. 

"Mrs.  Thomas  returned  in  1874,  and  has  ever 
since  been  engaged  with  intense  earnestness  in 
rekindling  the  missionary  spirit  of  the  Henthada 
Karen  churches,  and  arousing  their  pastors  to 
direct  evangelistic  work  among  the  heathen. 


224  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  Meanwhile  Mr.  Crawley,  and,  after  him,  Mr. 
Douglass,  had  been  doing  the  slower  work  of  a 
Burman  missionary,  talking  daily  to  companies 
of  men,  —  who  would  gather,  and  listen  all  day 
to  religious  discussions  as  to  a  theatrical  exhibi- 
tion, —  and  gathering  converts  one  by  one. 

"  In  1 870  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  arrived  from 
America.  This,  when  they  had  learned  the 
language,  left  Mr.  Crawley  free  for  work  in  the 
jungle. 

"  Repeated  tours  were  made.  Every  village 
where  there  was  a  Christian  was  visited,  besides 
•  many  where  there  were  none ;  and  in  1 872 
the  result  appeared  in  forty-one  baptisms  from 
among  the  Burmans,  —  a  larger  number  than 
had  ever  been  received  in  one  year -before. 

"In  1875,  though  both  missionaries  were  laid 
aside  a  great  part  of  the  time  by  sickness,  there 
came  a  revival  such  as  the  Burman  mission  of 
Henthada  had  never  known. 

"  In  a  region  scarcely  visited  by  the  mission- 
ary, Mr.  George  found  himself  surrounded  by 
loving  converts,  who  insisted  upon  dismissing 
the  hired  coolies,  and  themselves  transporting 
the  baggage  to  its  destination.  Here,  with 
insatiable  eagerness,  they  busied  themselves 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  225 

from  morning  till  night  in  studying  the  Bible, 
and  learning  to  sing  Christian  hymns.  Few  of 
them  had  ever  heard  a  sermon ;  but  they  had 
read  tracts ;  and  several  of  them  had  witnessed 
a  baptism,  and  dated  their  serious  impressions 
from  that.  Within  a  year,  more  than  one  hun- 
dred were  baptized.  •  The  interest  continues; 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  have  changed  their 
home,  that  they  might  be  nearer  this  great 
work,  thus  starting  the  new  station  of  Zeegong. 
"Mr.  Crawley  died  near  the  close  of  1876:  so 
that  the  Burman  work  at  the  original  station  of 
Henthada  is  wholly  in  the  care  of  Mrs.  Bailey 
and  Miss  Payne,  missionaries  .of  the  Woman's 
Missionary  Society." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

RENEWED  FIELDS, RANGOON,    BASSEIN,    PROME. 

] HE  next  month  was  too  busy  to  allow 
a  single  "  missionary  evening;"  though, 
in  one  sense,  all  evenings  were  mission- 
ary evenings  now.  Ida's  ideas  in  regard  to-  her 
qualifications  were  far  more  humble  than  those 
of  her  friends.  It  sometimes  seemed  that  it 
would  take  one  lifetime  to  fit  her  to  even  begin 
the  work  of  a  missionary.  Studies  that  she  had 
rejected  or  neglected  as  useless  now  seemed 
important.  Every  thing  seemed  important,  in- 
deed. She  was  thankful  that  she  was  young 
yet ;  that  life,  for  the  most  part,  lay  before  her. 
One  year  she  resolved  to  give  to  study  ;  and,  in 
order  to  do  this,  she  must  leave  home  at  once. 

So,  for  four  weeks,  Mrs  Bancroft  and  Ida,  and 
the  sewing-machine,  held  long  councils.     Kape 
was  as   enthusiastic  as  if   she  had   been  going 
226 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  227 

herself,  and  counted  it  a  special  privilege,  when, 
in  the  intervals  of  work  for  the  children  and 
grandpa  Sears  and  the  family,  she  could  gain 
an  hour  to  sew  for  Ida.  Walter  never  joined 
these  family  councils  ;  he  was  not  often  in  the 
sewing-room  :  but  somehow,  if  there  was  a 
trunk-lock  to  be  repaired,  or  the  sewing-ma- 
chine was  refractory,  or  purchases  were  to  be 
made  a  mile  down  town,  he  was  always  on  hand. 

Grandpa  Sears  was  interested  in  every  thing, 
even  to  ruffles  and  tatting;  yet  the  children 
sometimes  found  him  looking  down  into  the 
depths  of  the  unpacked  trunk  in  a  silent, 
meditative  way,  perhaps  thinking  of  threescore 
others  who  had  as  hopefully  prepared  for  the 
mission-work  since  his  remembrance,  and  had 
been  called  up  higher. 

Charlie  spent  his  daytimes  at  school,  and  his 
evenings  with  Clarence.  He  "hated  packing 
and  getting  ready  to  go  off  always;  but  this 
was  the  pokiest  packing  he  ever  knew." 

But  all  was  done  at  last.  They  had  gathered 
at  the  depot,  watched  the  last  steam-puff  of  the 
cars  that  carried  Ida  away  float  off  among  the 
hills,  and  realized,  that,  except  for  two  short 
vacations,  they  could  claim  her  no  longer. 


228  OUR   GOLD-MINE, 

Then,  when  night  gathered  around  them,  they 
were  glad  to  meet  again  in  the  sitting-room,  and 
listen  to  Mrs.  Bancroft. 

"  RANGOON, 

the  oldest  mission-station,  might  be  called  a 
'new  field  '  almost  as  truly  as  Toungoo  or  Hen- 
thada.  The  city  was  rebuilt  as  if  by  magic, 
and  within  two  months  counted  a  population  of 
thirty  thousand.  Mr.  Vinton  soon  joined  Mr. 
Kincaid.  Native  assistants  were  sent  out  into 
the  neighboring  towns ;  and  within  six  months 
that  wilderness  blossomed,  and  bore  the  fruit 
of  seventy-five  converted  Burmans  and  Karens, 
while  every  sabbath  witnessed  baptisms. 

"But  pestilence  and  famine  followed  in  the 
track  of  war.  All  through  the  country,  the  poor 
little  Karen  shanties,  that  never  held  provisions 
for  many  days  in  advance,  stretched  their  roofs 
over  starving,  dying  inmates.  But  one  day, 
among  some  of  these  perishing  ones,  there 
spread  a  rumor  that  there  was  rice  at  Teacher 
Vinton's.  He  had  bought  it  at  his  own  risk, 
and  was  selling  it  to  Karens  on  credit,  without 
Security.  It  seemed  too  good  to  be  believed. 
But  any  thing  was  better  than  lying  still  and 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  229 

dying :  so,  in  companies  and  singly,  they  flocked 
in,  till  Teacher  Vinton's  seemed  more  like  a 
commissariat  than  a  mission-house*.  At  first  he 
sold  to  Christian  Karens  only ;  but,  as  the  suf- 
fering grew  greater,  he  asked  no  questions,  and 
kept  no  account. 

"  '  You  are  ruining  yourself.  These  promises 
to  pay  will  amount  to  nothing,'  predicted  his 
merchant  -  friends.  They  might  well  say  so. 
He  had  spent  nearly  two  thousand  dollars  ;  and 
the  wildest  American  speculator  would  hardly 
have  offered  him  as  many  cents  for  his  invest- 
ment. Yet,  in  time,  every  cent  was  paid,  though 
not  fully  till  years  afterward.  Long  before  that, 
Mr.  Vinton  had  gained  a  better  reward. 

"  '  This  teacher  saved  our  lives ;  his  religion 
must  be  worth  having,'  was  the  comment  of 
the  heathen.  And  so,  wherever  he  went,  they 
flocked  around  him,  sometimes  trying  to  worship 
him,  always  pointing  him  out  to  their  children 
as  their  deliverer.  In  one  year,  more  than 
seven  hundred  were  baptized. 

"  At  the  same  time,  at  the  zayats  in  the  city, 
companies  of  eagerly-listening  Burmans  gath- 
ered around  Mr.  Ingalls  and  Mr.  Stevens,  who 
preached  incessantly ;  and  every  week  there 
were  baptisms. 


230  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"More  were  added  in  this  one  revival  than 
had  ever  before,  in  the  same  length  of  time, 
been  added  to  a  Burman  church. 

"  A  year  later,  Mr.  Ingalls  found  his  health 
failing,  and  was  warned  to  go  to  America. 

" '  I  cannot  leave/  was  the  answer,  '  until 
some  brother  is  ready  to  come  and  care  for  these 
souls  as  I  have  done.' 

"Another  year,  and  the  sacrifice  was  com- 
plete. Mr.  Ingalls  died  on  March  14,  1856. 

"  Two  weeks  later,  the  old  pastor,  Ko-Thah-a, 
had  joined  him  in  heaven. 

"  Two  years  later*  the  disciples  and  missiona- 
ries gathered  around  the  dying-bed  of  Mr.  Vin- 
ton.  Never  before  had  the  blows  fallen  so 
rapidly  and  heavily. 

"  A  few  months  later,  with  Ko  En  and  some 
other  native  assistants,  Mrs.  Ingalls  was  mak- 
ing a  twenty-three-days'  tour  through  the  jun- 
gle, doing,  in  every  thing  except  preaching,  the 
work  that  her  husband  had  left  unfinished.  And 
through  the  years  that  followed  we  find  her,  now 
visiting  districts  where  no  white  woman  had 
ever  been  seen,  and  talking  to  groups  who 
crowded  around  her  so  closely  she  could  hardly 
breathe ;  then  sitting  in  the  zayat  of  a  Burman 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  231 

priest  to  encourage  her  assistants,  who  dis- 
cussed with  and  .  silenced  him  ;  again  visiting 
feeble  churches,  and  directing  inquirers,  rejoi- 
cing in  conversions,  or  mourning  over  apostates ; 
then,  for  a  while,  making  her  home  alone  with 
the  natives  in  one  of  those  out-stations ;  and  a 
few  years  later,  when  the  church  had  grown  to 
forty-five  members,  locating  herself  in  a  little 
shanty,  a  nest  of  snakes,  scorpions,  and  many 
smaller  creatures,  and  superintending  the  build- 
ing of  a  chapel. 

"  Once  she  went  as  far  as  Bassein.  On  her 
way  there,  calling  at  a  small  village,  she  left 
her  Burman  .girls  to  cook,,  and  Mr.  Crawley  to 
preach  to  the  priests,  while  she  went  into  an 
idol  temple  to  give  books  to  the  workmen,  who 
were  replastering  some  idols.  A  company  col- 
lected. 

"'I  am  the  only  one  to  testify  for  Christ,' 
Mrs.  Ingalls  thought ;  but  from  out  the  crowd 
there  came  a  middle-aged  man,  who  joined  her 
in  giving,  with  surprising  accuracy,  an  account 
of  the  creation. 

" '  Who  told  you  all  this  ? '  she  asked. 

" '  Oh  !  I  heard  it  many  years  ago  from  Teacher 
Ingalls.  He  told  me  all  about  the  Lord  Jesus 


232  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

Christ,  who  came  down  to  die  for  us ;  and  I  shall 
never  forget  it.' 

"  '  Do  you  not  know  me  ? ' 

" '  No.' 

"  '  I  am  Mamma  Ingalls.' 

"  Instantly  the  man  clasped  his  hands,  bowed 
low  at  her  feet,  and  told  her,  that  for  years  he 
had  not  worshipped  idols ;  that  he  believed  in  the 
Eternal  God,  and  wished  to  be  his  disciple. 

"  On  one  of  her  journeys  by  boat,  just  at  mid- 
night she  reached  a  little  Burman  hamlet.  The 
current  was  rapid  ;  but  they  had  promised  to 
stop  for  an  inquirer.  Their  call  was  answered. 
Torches  were  brought,  and  a  group  of  listeners 
gathered  about  the  canoe.  Among  them  stood 
a  noble-looking  aged  couple,  the  father  and 
mother  of  the  inquirer.  Already  they  believed 
in  the  Eternal  God,  and  Mrs.  Ingalls  talked  to 
them  of  Christ. 

"  A  few  more  visits,  and  the  couple  appeared 
with  a  band  of  candidates  for  baptism. 

" '  Where  did  you  first  learn  about  the  Eternal 
God  ? '  was  asked. 

" '  In  the  golden  city  of  Burmah's  king,  and 
from  the  white  teacheress,  whose  husband  was 
cast  into  the  death-prison  of  Oung-pen-la.  My 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  233 

husband  took  two  books,  and  I  carried  rice  and 
eggs  to  the  beautiful  white  lady.' 

"  Did  God  have  the  conversion  of  those  two 
in  view  when  he  sent  Judson  to  Ava  ?  And 
did  sower  and  reaper  —  the  'white  teacheress' 
of  Ava  and  the  white  teacheress  of  Thongzai  — 
rejoice  together  as  the  old  lady,  rising  to  receive 
the  hand  of  fellowship,  exclaimed,  '  This  is  the 
happiest  hour  of  my  life  ;  for  I  have  found  rest 
in  a  Saviour '  ?  God  knows. 

"  In  1863,  on  a  jungle-trip  from  Thongzai, 
where  she  had  removed,  she  met  with  a  man 
who  declared  himself  an  opposer.  In  conver- 
sation with  him,  she  chanced  to  mention  the 
name  of  her  preacher,  —  Moung  Thah  Dongnee, 
a  native  of  the  region. 

"  The  opposer's  countenance  changed.  '  Has 
that  man  embraced  these  as  truths  ? '  he  asked. 

" '  Yes,  and  is  now  a  teacher  of  them.' 

" '  You  may  talk  to  the  rest :  I  shall  come 
and  hear  from  the  lips  of  my  friend.' 

"  The  next  day  he  came,  and  met  Moung 
Thah  Dongnee. 

"  '  Do  you  know  me  ? '  he  asked. 

"'No.' 

"  But  in  a  moment  more  tears  started  to  the 


234  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

preacher's  -eyes,  and  they  were  clasped  in  each 
other's  arms. 

"Then  followed  questions,  and  the  story  of 
their  years  of  separation. 

" '  And  now/  said  Thah  Dongnee,  '  I  must  tell 
you  the  joyful  news  of  salvation.' 

"  He  began  ;  and  so  deeply  were  they  absorbed, 
that  for  a  long  time  they  puffed  on  with  fireless 
cigars,  much  to  the  amusement  of  Mrs.  Ingalls's 
other  visitors.  All  night,  till  daybreak,  Mrs. 
Ingalls  could  hear  them  talking  and  reading. 

"'I  think  I  believe,'  was  the  morning -saluta- 
tion of  the  man,  who,  two  days  before,  had  been 
a  bitter  opposer. 

"  Almost  immediately  after  Mrs.  Ingalls  .  re- 
moved to  Thongzai,  forty  miles  from  Rangoon, 
a  remarkable  revival  commenced,  in  which  the 
native  preachers  —  aided  by  Mr.  Stevens  of  Ran- 
goon and  Mr.  Crawley  of  Henthada  —  gathered  a 
large  number  into  the  church.  The  same  year  a 
little  church  was  organized  at  Letpadan,  a  day's 
journey  distant.  The  gain  was  steady  until 
1864,  when  the  beautiful  chapel  at  Thongzai 
was  burned  to  the  ground.  The  church  then 
numbered  eighty-eight ;  but  the  heathen  from 
the  community,  if  heathen  they  could  be  called, 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  235 

gathered  around  the  ruins,  and  mingled  their 
tears  with  those  of  the  Christians. 

" '  If  you  could  wear  yellow  garments  like 
mine,  I  could  give  you  a  hundred  changes  ;  and, 
if  you  could  eat  rice  and  our  food,  I  could  bring 
you  loads  of  it  before  night,'  said  an  old  Buddh- 
ist priest  as  he  gave  Mrs.  Ingalls  a  bowl,  a  mat, 
and  some  native  cloth.  And  afterwards  heathen 
vied  with  Christians  in  bringing  dishes  and  cloth, 
and  posts,  for  the  new  chapel ;  and  soon  the  work 
was  going  on  as  prosperously  as  ever. 

"  Miss  Adams  joined  the  Thongzai  mission  in 
1868,  but  after  two  years  removed  to  Henthada. 
Her  place  was  rilled  early  in  1872  by  Miss 
Evans,  the  first  missionary  sent  out  by  the 
Woman's  Missionary  Society.  The  organiza- 
tion was  not  a  year  old  then  :  now  it  has  under 
its  care  twenty-one  missionaries,  twenty-five 
Bible-women,  and  eighteen  hundred  and  seven- 
teen pupils  in  schools,  distributed  over  nearly 
all  parts  of  the  foreign  field. 

"  Let  us  look  in  for  an  hour,  just  now,  upon 
these  women  at  their  work.  Here,  in  the  house 
of  a  Buddhist  priest,  seated,  contrary  to  all  rule, 
on  a  seat  a  little  higher  than  his  own,  is  a  deli- 
cate young  lady  repairing  a  clock.  She  can  talk 


236  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

little  to  him  yet ;  but  her  work  may  prepare  the 
way  for  a  time  when  she  can.  Meanwhile  she 
hands  him  her  watch.  It  will  preach  to  him 
maybe ;  for  its  hands  will  do  what  those  of  his 
idols  cannot,  —  move. 

"And  now  into  Mrs.  Ingalls's  room  came  a 
company  of  heathen  Burmans  from  a  distance. 
'  Our  idols  are  gods '  is  their  steady  reply  to  all 
her  arguments. 

"  She  quotes  Scripture. 

"'The  teachers  made  the  Scripture  as  they 
pleased/  is  the  answer. 

"  She  takes  out  a  German  doll,  and  presses  it. 
Of  course,  it  adds  the  strength  of  its  voice  to 
the  argument. 

" '  Your  idols  cannot  even  make  a  noise  when 
pressed.' 

"  They  look,  then  shake  their  heads.  '  Our 
idols  are  gods,'  they  say,  and  withdraw  to  an- 
other room. 

"  Presently  a  Madras  man  comes  in.  He  can 
speak  only  a  few  words  of  Burman.  She  knows 
nothing  of  his  language.  Perhaps,  if  she  tries 
to  amuse  him,  he  will  think  more  kindly  of  mis 
sionaries,  and,  when  he  goes  home,  listen  more 
readily  to  those  there ;  but  is  this  all  ?  Can  there 


OUR   GOLD-MINE,  237 

be  no  preaching  without  words  ?  She  takes  a 
little  idol,  and  places  it  before  a  paper  of  needles. 
Of  course,  nothing  happens. 

"  She  puts  a  magnet  in  its  place.  The  man 
screams  with  wonder  as  he  sees  the  needles 
shooting  forward  to  meet  it.  He  seizes  it,  ex- 
amines it,  and  satisfies  himself  there  is  no  trick. 

"  '  English  god  ! '  he  exclaims ;  and  then, 
catching  up  needles,  magnet,  and  idol,  rushes 
into  the  room  where  the  Burmans  are  now  sit- 
ting. The  idol  is  set  before  the  needles. 

" '  Lohgeh  ! '  ('  Come  ! ')  says  the  Madras  man  ; 
but  the  needles  fail  to  obey. 

"He  tries  the  magnet.  'Lohgeh!'  and  in- 
stantly the  needles  are  joined  to  it.  '  No  god, 
no  god  ! '  he  says,  throwing  the  idol  contemptu- 
ously back.  '  Little  god,  but  no  god,  no  god,' 
he  adds,  placing  the  magnet  before  the  Bur- 
mans. 

"  '  It  has  more  power  than  our  idols  ;  perhaps 
it  is  an  English  god,'  suggests  one  of  them. 

" '  No,'  says  another :  '  the  English  God  lives 
up  in  the  heavens.  Perhaps  he  made  this 
strange  iron.' 

"  And  now  they  are  willing  listeners,  while 
Mrs.  Ingalls  talks  till  late  into  the  night  of  the 
true  God.  * 


238  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

" '  I  mean  to  read  this  book  you  have  given 
me ;  I  will  see  if  these  things  are  false/  says  one 
in  leaving. 

"  Will  he  ?  Certainly  never  again  will  either 
idols,  or  the  English  God,  be  to  any  of  that 
company  what  they  have  been. 

"  But  Dea  Thahlay  is  here  now :  let  us  listen 
while  he  tells  his  experience. 

" '  When  I  was  a  heathen,  I  bought  a  large 
idol  made  of  light  stuff,  and  very  gaudy.  One 
day  I  found  some  large  holes  in  it.  I  performed 
my  devotions,  then  pounded  on  it,  and,  behold ! 
two  or  three  large  rats  ran  out.  Then  I  was 
very  angry,  and  said,  "  What !  you  a  god,  and 
not  able  to  defend  yourself  from  rats  ?  Do  I 
worship  a  god  that  cannot  defend  himself  from 
rats  ?  "  I  seized  a  club,  laid  him  prostrate,  and 
pounded  him  in  pieces.  The  old  priest  came 
out,  and  exclaimed  in  horror,  "  Young  man ! 
what  are  you  doing  ?  "  —  "I  am  knocking  to 
pieces  my  god,  who  cannot  defend  himself  from 
rats,"  said  I.  I  never  bought  another  idol ;  and, 
when  I  heard  the  gospel,  I  rejoiced  in  it.' 

"  If  all  rats  made  equally  good  missionaries, 
probably  American  Christians  could  exercise 
self-denial  enough  to  export  a  number  sufficient 
to  meet  all  demands.  * 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  239 

"  But  to  the  true  missionary,  if  only  Christ  be 
preached,  it  matters  little  whether  the  preacher 
be  Bible,  or  clock,  or  doll,  or  magnet,  or  rats,  or 
medicine-chest. 

"  Sometimes  the  stoniest  ground  bore  choicest 
fruit. 

"  Once,  late  at  night,  Mr.  Crawley,  Mrs. 
Ingalls,  and  the  native  assistants,  were  passing 
though  the  village  of  Thay  Bao.  The  Word  had 
often  been  preached  there,  but  with  no  visible 
result. 

"The  travellers  were  faint  from  their  long 
walk,  had  lunched  on  dry  salt  fish,  and  were  in 
need  of  water.  They  were  refused. 

"  '  What  is  the  reason  ? '  asked  Mrs.  Ingalls. 

" '  We  have  talked  of  your  religion,'  answered 
one  of  the  women ;  '  and,  as  you  say  there  is  no 
merit  from  wells  and  water,  I  have  told  them  to 
refuse  water  to  Christians.  We  will  feed  dogs 
and  crows,  but  not  you.' 

" '  Will  you  lend  us  a  rope  and  bucket  ? ' 

" '  No.' 

"  At  last  one  woman  was  persuaded  to  sell  a 
small  jar  of  water,  and  the  missionaries  passed 
on. 

"  Months  passed   by.     The   village  —  known 


240  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

rather  as  '  the  village  that  refused  water  to  the 
mamma'  than  by  its  real  name  —  was  visited  by 
cattle-plague  and  fire,  and  became  the  subject 
of  earnest  prayer  among  the  Thongzai  Chris- 
tians. 

"In  1872  one  man  from  the  place  was  con- 
verted ;  six  months  later  there  came  a  call  for 
a  visit,  and  native  preachers  were  sent ;  and 
when,  in  1873,  Mrs.  Ingalls  visited  them  with 
her  company,  she  was  welcomed  by  a  band  of 
praying  converts  to  the  shelter  of  hospitable 
homes,  and  brought  through  the  forest  with 
songs  of  rejoicing. 

"Before  another  year  had  passed,  the  once 
closed  water-tanks  had  been  given  to  the  teach- 
ers, the  monastery  was  converted  into  a  chapel 
and  schoolroom,  and  the  Buddhist  priest  had 
become  a  Christian  preacher. 

" '  This  is  not  the  work  for  two  women,  but 
for  an  army  of  strong  men,'  says  Mrs.  Ingalls 
as  she  sees,  one  after  another,  the  Buddhist 
leaders  joining  the  ranks  of  the  secretly  con- 
vinced, but  shrinking  from  the  next  step  which 
would  place  them  among  the  open  believers. 
'*  But  two  women  '  with  God  are  a  majority  ; '  and 
in  all  the  Burman  mission  there  is  no  brighter 
spot  than  Thongzai. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  241 

"A  like,  yet  very  different  work  was  Mrs. 
Vinton's.  '  Will  the  mamma  leave  us  ? '  was  the 
first  question  of  the  Karen  converts  when  Mr. 
Vinton  died  ;  and  from  outside  the  city  disciples 
flocked  in,  begging  her  to  stay,  and  pledging  her 
their  support. 

"Two  years  before  his  death,  Mr.  Vinton, 
differing  with  the  Board  in  regard  to  the  extent 
of  his  control  in  the  management  of  the  mission, 
and  believing  that  this  difference  affected  inter- 
ests vital  to  the  success  of  his  work,  closed  his 
connection  with  the  Missionary  Union.  For 
similar  reasons,  Mr.  Harris,  Mr.  Beecher,  and 
Mr.  Brayton,  withdrew,  and  connected  them- 
selves with  the  Free  Mission  Society.  Mr. 
Vinton  relied  for  his  support  upon  the  Karens 
and  the  voluntary  contributions  of  friends.  Thus 
at  his  death  Mrs.  Vinton  was  left  alone  in  charge 
of  an  independent  mission  of  fifty  churches, 
three  thousand  church-members,  and  numerous 
schools. 

" '  I  well  remember,'  writes  her  daughter,  '.that, 
at  the  semi-annual  meetings  of  the  Karen  Home 
Mission  Society,  the  native  pastors  and  trustees 
used  to  come  to  her  forbad  vice  in  all  matters 
connected  with  the  mission,  just  as  they  used  to 


242  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

come  to  my  father  ;  and  they  seemed  to  look  up 
to  her  with  the  same  reverence  and  love  they  had 
for  him.  Many  times,  as  she  sat  in  the  centre 
of  a  group  of  pastors  and  teachers,  have  I  heard 
them  say,  "  When  our  father,  Teacher  Vinton, 
died,  we  felt  like  orphans :  but  this  our  mother 
did  not  forsake  us  ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  her, 
to  go-  before  us,  and  lead  us  on  as  Joshua  did  the 
Israelites  after  the  death  of  Moses,  surely  we 
would  not  have  been  able  to  go  forward." ' 

"When  taunted  by  the  heathen  with  having 
a  woman  for  their  head,  they  replied,  '  She  is 
our  mother,  and  better  to  us,  her  poor  children, 
than  any  two  men ;  but  by  and  by  the  son  of 
his  father  is  coming  to  us,  and  then  you  shall 
see.'  The  reference  was  to  J.  B.  Vinton,  then 
a  student  in  America. 

"During  all  this  time  she  kept  up  a  school  of 
one  hundred  pupils,  with  a  reputation  such  that 
a  student  had  only  to  bring  a  certificate  from 
her  that  he  had  been  educated  there,  was  a 
competent  surveyor,  and  was  trustworthy  to  be 
admitted  to  a  situation  in  the  survey  under  the 
British  Government ;  and,  at  the  close  of  the 
survey,  the  students  weuld  often  bring  in  from 
two  hundred  to  five  hundred  dollars  each  of 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  243 

their  salaries  to  aid  in  carrying  on  the  school; 
besides  gifts  to  Mrs.  Vinton  and  her  daughter 
who  assisted  her. 

"In  1 86 1  'the  son  of  his  father'  arrived,  and 
was  welcomed  by  the  Karens  as  if  he  were  their 
old  teacher  come  to  life  again.  In  1862  Mrs. 
Vinton  and  her  daughter  were  compelled  by  ill 
health  to  leave  for  America.  The  close  of  six 
months  of  hard  work,  in  which  she  travelled 
incessantly,  frequently  addressing  large  congre- 
gations, found  her  apparently  much  better  ;  but 
the  change  was  only  in  appearance.  In  1864  she 
reached  Rangoon,  accompanied  by  her  daughter 
and  son-in-law  (Mr.  Luther),  but  came  there  only 
to  die. 

"  Brainard  Vinton  did  not  disappoint  his  wild 
brethren.  For  six  months  of  every  year  he 
made  his  home  in  the  jungle,  travelling  almost 
constantly. 

" '  Where  does  Teacher  Vinton  live  ? '  was 
sometimes  asked  of  a  Karen  disciple. 

"  '  There'  would  be  the  answer,  pointing  to 
the  elephant  he  rode. 

"  Mounted  thus,  and  accompanied  by  his  native 
preachers  and  some  part  of  his  brass  band  of 
seventeen  trained  musicians,  he  passed  from 


244  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

village  to  village,  systematically  deploying  his 
preachers  right  and  left,  expecting  them  not 
only  to  preach,  but  to  make,  each  year,  accurate 
observations  that  should  serve  as  the  basis  of 
the  next  year's  work.  In  this  way  the  whole 
field  was  canvassed. 

"  All  the  confidence  the  Karens  had  given 
the  father  was  transferred  to  the  son.  If  a  na- 
tive was  bitten  by  a  poisonous  serpent,  Teacher 
Vinton  must  kill  or  capture  the  snake,  and  pro- 
vide the  remedy ;  if  a  man-eating  tiger  was 
about,  Teacher  Vinton  must  be  sent  for  to  de- 
stroy it.  In  fact,  Teacher  Vinton  was  the  spe- 
cific for  all  troubles,  natural  or  spiritual.  But 
through  their  confidence  in  him  he  trained  them 
rapidly  to  self-dependence. 

"  Once  he  found  a  large  congregation  wor- 
shipping in  a  small,  broken-down  chapel.  He 
preached  a  sermon  on  the  text,  '  Ye  are  not  your 
own/  and  closed  by  asking  them  to  raise  one 
hundred  dollars  for  a  new  chapel. 

"They  were  frightened.  All  saw  the  neces- 
sity for  the  chapel ;  but  to  raise  the  money 
themselves  seemed  quite  impossible.  They 
met  again  the  second  day.  The  third,  as  they 
were  still  deliberating,  a  sound  was  heard  out- 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  245 

side.  In  rushed  a  naked  herd-boy  with  the  cry, 
'  I've  found  an  elk ! '  Instantly  church  and  mis- 
sionary were  off  on  the  chase.  The  missiona- 
ry's shot  brought  down  the  elk.  Strange  to 
say,  not  a  Karen  had  his  knife  with  him. 

" '  Let  us  all  take  hold  together,  and  we  can 
carry  him  to  the  village  as  he  is,'  said  Mr.  Vin- 
ton,  suiting  action  to  word. 

"  They  tried  again  and  again,  but  in  vain. 

" '  Then  some  of  you  boys  go  to  the  village 
and  get  knives.' 

"It  was  done ;  and  soon  the  elk  was  cut  up, 
and  each  man  carried  his  own  part  easily. 

" '  Hold  there ! '  said  one  of  the  deacons  :  '  this 
elk  has  preached  me  a  sermon.  Do  you  remem- 
ber how  we  lifted  and  tugged,  and  couldn't  stir 
it,  when  we  tried  to  lift  it  altogether  ?  But,  now 
it  is  cut  up,  we  can  carry  it  easily  enough.  Let 
us  try  that  hundred  dollars  in  the  same  way. 
What  is  my  share,  teacher  ? ' 

"Instantly  Mr.  Vinton  made  a  mental  assess- 
ment. 

" '  About  ten  dollars." 

"  '  But  /  can't  do  as  much  as  that,'  said  a  poor 
disciple. 

" '  No  :  your  share  would  be  one  rupee.' 


246  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"Before  they  parted,  the  whole  sum  was 
pledged. 

"  The  next  year,  meeting  them  in  their  pleas- 
ant new  chapel,  he  asked  who  of  them  had  suf- 
fered from  their  liberality. 

"Not  one  could  say  that  he  had  had  any 
thing  the  less  to  eat.  They  agreed  that  the 
Lord  had  more  than  paid  them. 

"A  paper  had  been  prepared,  asking  how 
much  it  would  cost  to  give  the  chapel  a 
shingled  roof. 

"'Hold  on!'  said  the  deacon:  'I' 11  give  hoof 
and  horns  of  that  elk.' 

"  There  was  a  laugh ;  but  soon  seven  hundred 
dollars  were  raised  for  the  shingling. 

"That  church  gives  seven  hundred  dollars 
annually  now  for  religious  purposes. 

."In  1871  Mr.  Vinton  brought  his  band  of 
twenty-five  hundred  well-trained  Karens  again 
into  line  with  the  forces  of  the  Missionary 
Union.  Since  then,  their  number  has  increased 
to  3,311.  They  entirely  support  their  own 
churches  and  schools,  raising  annually  sixteen 
thousand  rupees  for  that  purpose. 

"  The.  school  of  barelegged  theologians  is  a 
seminary  now;  but  Dr.  Binney  is  no  longer 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  247 

professor  of  every  thing.  His  cares  are  shared 
by  D.  A.  W.  Smith  ;  and  had  we  visited  it  at 
any  time  during  1876,  while  both  these  mis- 
sionaries were  in  America,  we  should  have 
found  it  still  going  on  prosperously  under  the 
direction  of  the  modest  and  indefatigable  Sau 
Tay,  whose  sermons  missionaries  as  well  as 
heathen  find  profitable,  and  who  is  able,  aided 
only  by  native  assistants,  to  carry  forward  all 
branches  of  study  pursued  there. 

"  Not  far  away  is  the  Rangoon  College,  under 
the  care  of  Prof.  Packer,  founded  in  1872,  and 
now  numbering  more  than  one  hundred  stu- 
dents. 

PROME, 

about  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles  above 
Rangoon,  was  founded  two  or  three  centuries 
before  the  Christian  era.  The  darkness  of 
twenty  centuries  was  first  broken  when  the 
only  white  missionaries  in  Burmah  were  in  the 
death-prison  of  Ava,  the  eighteen  obscure  dis- 
ciples dispersed  to  meet  no  more  on  earth  ; 
and  Moung  Shway-Gnong  alone,  in  Yatoung 
village,  taught  his  neighbors  the  new  truth  he 
had  found.  Three  years  later,  at  the  base  of 
the  towering  gilded  pagoda,  Judson  preached  to 


248 


OUR  GOLD-MJNE. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  249 

listening  crowds,  stirring  the  whole  city  for 
three  months,  till,  at  a  whisper  from  the  golden 
lips,  congregations  and  inquirers  became  invisi- 
ble together.  Here,  three  years  later  still,  Kin- 
caid  scattered  tracts  among  eager  hands,  and 
rejoiced  to  find  four  who  had  '  believed  ever 
since  Teacher  Judson  was  there.' 

"  It  was  one  of  the  first  stations  occupied 
after  the  war.  Coming  here  early  in  1854,  Mr. 
Kincaid  and  Mr.  Simons  found  a  native  al- 
ready on  the  ground,  and  active  in  preaching. 
Within  two  years,  one  hundred  and  fifty  were 
baptized,  principally  Burmans :  not  all  recent 
converts,  however;  for  many  seeds  scattered  in 
past  years  had  grown  up  wholly  untended,  and 
were  bearing  fruit. 

"  There  were  fewer  converts  in  the  years  that 
followed,  but  perhaps  nowhere  else  so  many 
from  the  classes  usually  called  the  hardest  .to 
reach.  Here  a  Buddhist  priest,  who  had  fitted 
himself  for  his  office  by  eight  years  of  study, 
and  would  not  even  listen  to  the  zayat  preach- 
ing, was  visited  day  by  day  by  an  earnest  con- 
vert of  eighty-four  years,  who  came,  leaning  on 
his  staff,  to  the  kyoung,  and  preached  Christ, 
until  the  priest,  too,  was  a  disciple.  There  a 


250  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

wealthy  timber-merchant,  a  fine  business-man, 
owning  one  of  the  best  houses  in  Prome,  after 
remaining  for  years  an  inquirer,  surprised  all  by 
making  an  open  profession  ;  while  in  after-years 
Mr.  Simons  mentions  receiving  letters  from 
early  converts,  whom  for  years  he  had  wholly 
lost  sight  of,  showing  an  earnest,  mature  piety. 

"  Mr.  E.  O.  Stevens  (son  of  Dr.  Stevens  of 
Rangoon)  and  his  wife  joined  the  mission  in 
1866.  Soon  after,  a  new  church  was  organized 
at  Enma.  Five  days  later,  while  he  was  visiting 
a  few  -scattered  disciples  at  Poungdai,  twelve 
miles  distant,  there  came  to  him  an  inquirer. 
He  had  met  him  before,  and  had  high  hopes  of 
him :  now  they  were  disappointed.  He  had 
decided  that  he  could  not  give  up  all,  and  ask 
for  baptism.  The  missionary  led  a  little  prayer- 
meeting,  and  then,  sad  and  weary,  lay  down  to 
rest.  At  sunrise  we  find  him  and  his  party 
wending  their  way  —  Indian  file  —  through  a 
narrow  footpath  out  of  the  village.  They  have 
passed  but  a  few  rods,  when  a  voice  is  heard 
out  of  the  jungle-grass  behind  them.  They 
halt,  and  the  inquirer  of  the  last  evening  stands 
before  them.  He  is  the  picture  of  unrest,  —  not 
enough  a  Christian  to  apply  for  baptism,  and 
too  much  one  to  be  happy  without. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  251 

"  '  Can  you  not  wait  one  day  longer,  and  so 
preach  in  town  ? ' 

"It  is  impossible.  Mr.  Stevens  proposes 
prayer.  They  ascend  the  ladder  of  the  chapel 
near  by,,  and  one  after  another  prays  for  the 
hesitating  disciple.  His  whole  frame  trembles, 
and  the  tears  flow  fast. 

"  '  I  have  wholly  renounced  idolatry,'  he  says, 
'  and  believe  in  the  Eternal  God,  and  the  Sav- 
iour Jesus  Christ ;  but  I  cannot  bear  to  think 
of  my  wife  leaving  me,  and  taking  our  only 
child.' 

" '  The  sun  will  soon  be  hot,'  says  the  mission- 
ary, taking  his  hat  and  umbrella :  '  we  must 
leave  at  once.  But  remember,  if  you  defer  obe- 
dience thirty  days,  as  you  propose,  you  may  find 
it  thirty  times  more  difficult' 

"  '  If  that  is  the  case,  let  it  be  done  at  once,' 
is  the  decided  answer.  From  that  moment, 
perfect  peace  seemed  to  hold  possession  of  his 
soul.  That  evening  he  was  baptized,  and  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Enma  church ;  but, 
before  a  year  had  passed,  Poungdai  had  a  church 
of  its  own,  with  twenty  members.  The  Prome 
mission  now  numbers  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five.  The  death  of  Mr.  Campbell,  Mrs.  Rose, 


252  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

and  Mr.  Knapp,  and,  three  years  later,  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Satterlee,  the  removal  through  sickness 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moore,  and  the  withdrawal  of 
Mr.  Rose,  had  left  Akyab  and  Ramree  destitute. 
In  1857  the  Arracan  mission  closed.  For  its 
fruit  we  must  turn  to 

BASSEIN. 

"  Here  Mr.  Van  Meter  came  as  soon  as  the 
field  was  open  after  the  war.  Left  to  them- 
selves as  they  had  been  so  much,  and  founded 
in  part  by  men  who  had  their  instructions  only 
at  second  or  third  hand  from  the  missionaries, 
the  theology  of  the  Bassein  churches  was  not 
the  most  systematic :  still  the  missionary  found 
much  more  to  rejoice  over  than  to  mourn. 
They  had  an  active  Home  Mission  Society ;  and 
in  1855  Mr.  Van  Meter  reports  their  contribu- 
tions for  the  extension  of  Christianity  as  more 
than  five  thousand  rupees. 

"When  the  society  met  in  1858,  its  members 
found  themselves  in  possession  of  an  article 
common  enough  in  Western  Christian  experi- 
ence, but  new  to  them, —  a  debt.  Six  new 
preachers  were  asking  to  be  sent  out.  At  first, 
there  was  a  slight  feeling  of  despondency.  For- 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  253 

tunately,  there  were  no  more  enlightened  Chris- 
tians present  to  suggest  retrenchment ;  none  to 
say,  '  Appoint  no  new  missionaries  till  the  ex- 
penses are  brought  within  your  means.'  They 
supposed  it  was  their  duty  to  honor  whatever 
drafts  the  Lord  might  .be  pleased  to  make  upon 
them.  A  brief  conference,  and  then  a  vote  was 
taken  to  appoint  the  whole  six  applicants. 
Another  conference,  and  it  was  suggested  that 
a  subscription  be  made  on  the  spot.  All  ap- 
proved, and  in  a  few  minutes  three  hundred 
and  forty-seven  rupees  were  raised,  —  enough 
to  pay  the  debt,  and  support  the  entire  six  mis- 
sionaries three  months. 

"All  joined  in  a  season  of  thanksgiving  and 
prayer. 

"  Mr.  J.  L.  Douglass,  the  first  missionary  to 
the  Burmans  of  Bassein,  arrived  in  1854.  He 
had  hardly  learned  the  language,  when  there 
came  to  him,  from  three  hundred  miles  away  in 
Arracan,  a  Burman,  who  had  '  heard  there  was 
a  Burman  missionary  in  Bassein.' 

"'  I  heard  Teacher  Comstock  preach  in  Arra- 
can,' he  said,  '  but  did  not  believe  what  I  heard  ; 
but,  after  he  died,  I  received  tracts  he  wrote,  and 
read  them,  and  then  remembered  what  I  had 


254  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

heard.  I  prayed  God  to  help  me  understand, 
and  to  forgive  my  sins  ;  and  I  believe  he  has 
given  me  a  new  heart.  Now  I  have  come  to 
learn  more,  and  be  baptized.' 

"  Within  three  weeks  Mr.  Douglass  baptized 
him.  Soon  he  began  to.  talk  about  preaching. 
The  missionary  had  been  praying  for  an  assist- 
ant every  day  for  a  year  ;  but  he  dared  not  see 
in  the  new-comer  an  answer  to  his  prayers,  till 
he  had  sent  him  to  Mr.  Ingalls  in  Rangoon  for 
examination. 

'"I  am  much  pleased  with  him,  and  think  he 
would  be  of  service  to  the  cause,'  was  the  word 
that  came  back. 

"  So  Mr.  Douglass  engaged  him,  with  no 
salary  except  his  rice  and  clothing ;  and  he 
proved  to  be  '  a  man  of  prayer,  apt  to  teach,  and 
well  acquainted  with  the  Bible.' 

"  Soon  a  small  Burman  church  was  gathered, 
which,  after  fifteen  years  of  the  slow,  steady 
growth  common  to  Burman  churches,  has  now 
become  five,  with  one  hundred  members. 

"  But  the  most  marked  work  was  among  the 
Pwo  Karens,  usually  far  harder  to  reach  -than 
the  Sgaus.  In  1859  Mr.  Douglass  reports  the 
turning  of  a  village  composed  entirely  of  Pwos 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  255 

to  Christianity,  and  the  formation  of  a  Pwo 
church  of  thirty-five.  Three  years  later,  Mr. 
Van  Meter  found  in  one  place  three  entire  fami- 
lies of  Pwos,  who  had  '  thrown  away  the  bottle ' 
(Karen  idiom  for  becoming  Christians) ;  in  an- 
other place  he  found  nineteen,  who,  within  a 
week,  had  decided  for  Christianity;  and  that 
year  the  majority  of  conversions  from  heathen- 
ism were  among  the  Pwos. 

"  In  1867  the  Bassein  Christians  celebrated 
their  first  Christmas,  wondering  much  that  they 
had  never  heard  of  the  day  before.  The  same 
year  a  temperance  pledge  was  generally  circu- 
lated ;  and,  wholly  of  their  own  accord,  the 
Karens  extended  it  to  cock-fighting,  horse- 
racing,  opium-eating,  and  all  heathen  practices. 
Singing  in  parts  was  introduced,  and  the  art 
spread  like  wildfire.  In  1868,  at  the  Sgau 
Association,  there  was  an  ordination,  with  pro- 
gramme prepared,  and  exercises  conducted 
throughout,  by  Karens,  except  that  Mr.  Van 
Meter  was  moderator  of  the  council  of  examina- 
tion. Both  at  this  association  and  at  the  Pwo, 
more  than  a  thousand  were  present,  testing,  but 
not  overtaxing,  the  hospitality  of  the  little  vil- 
lages where  they  met.  The  Sgau  pastor  alone 


256  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

accommodated  eighty ;  and  the  Pwo  deacon  took 
two  hundred  and  seventeen,  and  some  others  in 
proportion.  Probably  they  were  not  all  provided 
with  French  bedsteads  and  silver  forks.  In 
1869  some  of  the  churches  kept,  for  the  first 
time,  the  week  of  prayer ;  and  fifty  were  baptized 
during  the  meetings.  There  was  renewed  inter- 
est in  education.  When  Mr.  Thomas  went 
there,  there  were  but  fifty  newspapers  taken. 
A  year  later,  there  were  three  hundred.  In  1865 
there  were  not  three  thousand  Karens  in 
Bassein  who  could  read.  In  1868  there  were 
eight  thousand;  and,  though  very  poor,  they 
supported  wholly  their  schools  and  pastors. 

"  Mr.  Carpenter  came  in  November  of  that 
year.  His  first  work  was  to  draught  plans  for  a 
new  set  of  dormitory  buildings,  to  take  the  place 
of  the  frail  and  now  fast-decaying  old  ones. 
At  the  pastor's  meeting  in  December,  the  plans 
were  explained.  They  seemed  very  large. 

" '  Too  grand  and  expensive  for  poor  Karens,' 
they  said. 

" '  But  I  only  ask  a  contribution  of  one  rupee 
from  each  member  during  the  next  three  years, 
to  be  paid  in  instalments  of  four,  six,  or  eight 
annas,  as  they  may  be  able.' 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  257 

"  This  looked  more  reasonable.  At  last  they 
gave  unanimous  consent  to  the  work. 

"  With  them  to  pledge  was  to  perform.  Ka- 
rens chose  the  choicest  trees  from  the  mountains ; 
Karen  elephants  dragged  them  to  the  streams. 
They  were  cut  and  sawed  on  the  mission  com- 
pound ;  and  within  eighteen  months  three  thou- 
sand rupees  of  Karen  money  were  transformed 
into  seven  cottages,  built  all  of  the  very  best 
material,  attractive  to  any  eyes,  but  especially 
to  those  of  the  contributors.  Within  two  years 
more  the  number  had  doubled. 

"  Thus  .the  Bassein  churches  are  steadily  step- 
ping forward  to  independence.  Still  we  must 
not  think  our  work  done  there.  Independence 
is  not  the  only  necessary  virtue.  There  are  few, 
probably,  who  have  not  some  time  been  startled 
by  the  immediate  juxtaposition  in  the  Epistles 
of  texts  such  as,  '  Lie  not  one  to  another,  breth- 
ren,' 'Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more,'  'Be 
sober,'  with  such  as  '  Meet  to  be  partakers  of 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light,'  '  Fellow- 
citizens  of  the  saints  and  of  the  household  of 
God,'  or  '  Concerning  brotherly  love  it  is  not 
necessary  that  I  write  unto  you.'  We  see  the 
same  contrast  still.  There  is  hardly  a  chapter  in 


258  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

any  of  Paul's  epistles  —  from  those  glowing  with 
joy  at  the  triumphs  of  grace  to  those  written 
'  even  weeping '  —  that  might  not  be  addressed, 
almost  verbatim,  to  some  one  of  the  Bassein 
churches  to-day. 

"  Mr.  Van  Meter  died  in  1870,  and  Mrs.  Van 
Meter  a  year  later ;  leaving  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Goodell, 
recently  arrived,  alone  among  the  Pwos." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

TAVOY,  MAULMAIN,  AND  THE  SHANS. 

[AVE  you  noticed  any  change  in  Walter 
lately  ?  "  Mrs.  Bancroft  asked  Charlie. 

"  Nothing :  only  he's  given  up  wheels 
and  levers,  and  taken  to  chemicals.  That's  be-* 
cause  he's  going  to  be  a  doctor,  I  suppose. 
Clarence  thinks  he  has  some  talent  that  way." 

From  the  bay-window,  whose  curtain  con- 
cealed her,  Kate  listened  earnestly  to  the  conver- 
sation. 

A  look  of  disappointment  was  Mrs.  Bancroft's 
only  answer. 

"  Oh,  in  his  talk,  you  mean  ! "  Charlie  added, 
seeing  it.  "  I've  noticed  how  he  stands  up  for  the 
missionaries,  of  course.  That's  because  Clarence 
don't.  I've  heard  Walter  defend  rattlesnakes 
when  Clarence  said  he  hated  them." 

Charlie  walked  away  whistling,  knowing  he 

259 


260  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

had  not  been  quite  truthful,  Mrs.  Bancroft  think- 
ing she  had  been  mistaken. 

Katie  only  read'  in  the  words  of  both  the 
very  thing  she  had  been  longing  to  hear.  Wal- 
ter was  different,  then.  Her  impressions  were 
not  a  mere  reflection  of  her  hopes,  or  of  that 
one  evening,  weeks  before,  when  he  had  honestly 
showed  her  himself.  Mrs.  Bancroft  had  noticed 
a  difference  ;  and  she  knew  in  spite  of  his  denials, 
or  rather  from  them,  that  Charlie  had.  What 
this  difference  was  she  hardly  thought  then. 

"  Have  you  selected  your  field  yet,  Dr.  Wal- 
ter ? "  asked  Clarence  that  evening. 

"I  — what?" 

For  the  first  time,  Clarence  saw  Walter  a  little 
embarrassed ;  and  he  enjoyed  it,  though  he  could 
not  guess  the  cause. 

"  Your  field  as  a  physician,  he  means,"  said 
Charlie. 

"  Oh !  I  guess  we  are  ready  for  the  story, 
mother." 

"  Perhaps  one  of  the  fields  I  shall  describe 
to-night  will  suit  you,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  thing  that 
can  be  increased  in  breadth  without  diminishing 
its  thickness  ;  that  is,  if  no  additions  are  made  to 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  261 

it  from  without :  and,  during  the  years  when  the 
Union  was  winning  its  great  victories  in  Toun- 
goo  and  Henthada,  there  was  no  real  increase  in 
the  working-force.  Tavoy  felt  this  most  severe- 
ly. Mr.  Thomas,  Mr.  Cross,  Mr.  Allen,  Mr.  Col- 
burn,  labored  here  in  turn.  Often  there  was  but 
one  missionary ;  for  the  years  from  1860  to  1864, 
not  one ;  and  all  that  time  worms  and  weather 
were  busy  among  the  mission-buildings,  and 
Satan  and  speculators  among  the  converts." 

"But  I  should  think  that  in  thirty  years,  if 
ever,  Tavoy  might  have  raised  up  native  preach- 
ers that  could  look  after  things,"  said  Katie. 

"  It  had,"  Mrs.  Bancroft  answered.  "  Educat- 
ed Tavoyans  filled  many  a  pulpit  in  Toungoo 
and  Henthada.  They  had  giren  their  best  as 
missionaries." 

"  They  had  better  have  looked  after  their  own 
region  first,"  said  Charlie. 

"  Just  as  Massachusetts  young  men  ought  to 
stay  in  Massachusetts,  instead  of  going  out  West 
and  leaving  the  Bay  State  to  foreigners.  I  agree 
with  you,"  remarked  Walter. 

As  Charlie  had  that  forenoon  vehemently 
expressed  his  determination  never  to  settle  in 
the  East,  and  had  held  a  sharp  debate  with  Wai- 


262  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

ter  about  it,  the  indorsement  was  unwelcome. 
"  But  these  were  converted  heathen,"  he  said : 
"  that  made  it  different." 

"  I've  noticed  that  converted  heathen  are 
wonderfully  like  converted  other  folks,"  replied 
Walter. 

"  The  preachers  were  needed  where  they 
went,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft,  "  and  could  well  have 
been  spared  from  Tavoy,  if  the  missionary  force 
from  abroad  had  been  sustained.  But  in  Decem- 
ber, 1853,  Mr.  Thomas  writes,  'In  one  of  the 
late  "  Macedonians,"  mention  is  made  of  Mr. 
Thomas's  parish ;  but,  if  I  have  a  parish,  I  am 
at  a  loss  to  know  where  it  is.  Whether  it  lies 
up  the  Tavoy,  and  onward  to  the  Ya  River,  one 
hundred  miles  north,  or  in  Mata  and  the  region 
adjoining,  some  seventy-five  miles  east ;  whether 
it  be  fifty  miles  south-east,  in  the  Toungbyouk 
region,  "or  in  the  Mergui  province,  extending  to 
Kabin ;  or  still  farther  up  the  Tenasserim  River 
to  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
from  Tavoy,  —  I  am  unable  to  tell.  But  this  is 
a  fact :  in  all  those  places  there  are  disciples  and 
churches  of  Christ,  and  no  missionary  to  guide 
them  but  myself.' 

"  No  wonder  that  in  many  places  piety  waned, 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  263 

prayer-meetings  faded  out,  schools  dwindled,  and 
the  craving  for  books  that  had  marked  the  early 
converts  gave  place  to  the  dull  content  of  in- 
cipient starvation,  or  to  the  more  easily  gratified 
craving  for  strong  drink." 

"  And  the  new  missions  were  doing  well  all 
this  time  ? "  said  Katie. 

"  Rather  discouraging  in  regard  to  having  any 
'older  missions.'  Wouldn't  it  be  well  for  the 
Missionary  Union  to  imitate  the  early  Hindoo 
mothers,  and  strangle  or  drown  its  children  at 
the  age  of  three  years  or  earlier  ? "  suggested 
Clarence. 

"  Not  while  they  can  show  as  good  a  record 
even  as  Tavoy  in  her  darkest  days.  The  Catho- 
lic priests  came  in,  professing  to  be  'like  the 
teachers,  only  better,  because  more  lenient  to 
the  disciples'  faults,'  and  tried  their  best  to  make 
proselytes,  but  soon  found  out  that  the  Karens 
knew  something  of  church  history,  and  wearied 
of  their  fruitless  work.  The  pastors  were  self- 
denying  and  earnest. 

'"How  much  money  have  you  ? '  asked  Mr. 
Cross  of  a  pastor  who  had  just  handed  in  his 
church's  contribution  of  twenty-one  rupees. 

"  '  Fourteen  rupees,'  was  the  answer. 


264  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  I  will  make  it  up  to  twenty-one,'  said  Mr. 
Cross.  '  We  can  no  longer  give  the  four  rupees 
a  month  which  have  come  in  past  years  from 
America,  and  there  is  no  appropriation  for  a 
school  in  Tavoy  this  year.' 

"  The  pastor  took  the  money  reluctantly,  and 
walked  away,  looking  sad,  and,  Mr.  Cross  thought, 
dissatisfied  with  the  smallness  of  the  sum. 

"  Two  hours  later  the  missionary  was  unde- 
ceived. The  pastor  came  back,  bringing  six  of 
the  seven  rupees,  with  the  request  that  they  be 
used  'to  have  a  school  in  Tavoy.' 

"  Others  showed  a  like  spirit,  and  there  were 
laymen  scarcely  less  earnest. 

" '  Would  to  God  that  I  had  done  as  much  as 
this  man  for  Christ ! '  said  Commissioner  Haugh- 
ton  as  he  saw  at  the  Tavoy  Association  a  feeble 
cripple,  who  had  gone  alone  into  a  heathen  neigh- 
borhood, gathered  a  school,  ^and  one  by  one  led 
his  neighbors  to  his  Saviour. 

"  Many  of  the  churches  wholly  sustained  their 
pastors ;  and  in  1 862,  hearing  of  the  war  and 
financial  embarrassment  in  America,  the  Ka- 
rens of  Tavoy  sent  one  hundred  and  ten  rupees 
to  the  Missionary  Union. 

"When  Mr.  Colburn  went  there  in  1864,  he 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  265 

found  the  orphan  churches  strict  in  discipline, 
and,  though  complaining  much  of  coldness,' as 
spiritual  as  most  churches  in  America. 

"From  that  time  the  Tavoy  churches  have 
been  thrown  almost  entirely  upon  their  own 
resources,  scarcely  ever  having  more  than  one 
missionary  family,  rarely  the  full  services  of 
one,  and  much  of  the  time  being  left  wholly 
alone.  As  a  result,  the  number  of  church-mem- 
bers has  decreased  to  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
five.  At  their  earnest  request,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Morrow  were  sent  to  them  in  the  autumn  of 
1876 ;  and  at  present  the  Christians.seem  encour- 
aged, and  in  several  places  there  are  marked 
signs  of  awakening  among  the  heathen. 

"  Ten  years  had  passed  without  a  single  con- 
version from  heathenism  among  the  Burmans  of 
Maulmain.  Only  strangers  came  to  the  zayats. 
The  missionaries  met  few  in  the  streets  to  whom 
the  gospel  was  news,  and  all  others  seemed  har- 
dened against  it.  Still  the  church  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  held  well  on  its  way,  supporting 
itself  and  a  native  evangelist  besides,  and  gather- 
ing in  converts  from  the  .school  and  the  children 
of  Christian  families. 

"  Among  the  Karen  churches  of  the  district 


266  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

there  was  rarely  growth,  sometimes  loss.  Con- 
tact with  foreigners  had  given  the  Karens  new 
ideas  of  the  importance  of  money.  There  were 
speculators  —  English,  Irish,  German,  Burman, 
and  half-caste  —  ready  to  give  them  good  wages 
as  lumber-men.  Those  who  accepted  were  obliged 
to  work  Sundays,  expose  themselves  constantly 
to  disease  and  accident,  and  trust  to  luck  or 
their  own  wits  for  justice  when  the  work  was 
done.  Of  many  a  place  it  might  be  written,  as 
Mr.  Hibbard  writes  of  Kyong,  '  It  has  suffered 
severely  from  the  lumbering  mania :  they  have 
lost  many  hundred  rupees,  besides  several  souls 
and  some  bodies.'  Among  the  oldest  of  the 
Karen  churches,  they  were  far  less  ready  to 
support  themselves  than  those  of  Toungoo  and 
Henthada. 

"When  Mr.  Bixby  joined  the  Maulmain  Bur- 
man mission,  in  1853,  he  chose  as  his  teacher  Ko 
Boke,  partly  for  his  superior  talent,  partly  that 
he  might  have  a  heathen  constantly  under  his 
influence. 

"At  first,  Ko  Boke  was  wholly  wedded  to 
idolatry ;  but  gradually  the  chains  loosened. 

" '  This  is  a  wise  book,'  he  said  one  day  as 
they  read  the  Bible  together :  '  English  books 
are  full  of  wisdom.' 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  267 

" '  Not  because  it  is  an  English  book,  but  be- 
cause it  is  God's  book,'  said  Mr.  Bixby. 

"  At  another  time,  when  Ko  Boke  seemed 
more  than  usually  inclined  to  defend  the  reli- 
gion of  his  fathers,  Mr.  Bixby  took  him  to  an 
idol-house. 

" '  I  have  come  here,'  he  said,  '  to  preach  to 
these  gods,'  and  at  once  began  an  animated 
sermon. 

" '  Why,  teacher ! '  interrupted  Ko  Boke : '  they 
cannot  understand  you.' 

" '  If  they  understand  you  when  you  pray  to 
them/  said  Mr.  Bixby, '  they  understand  me  when 
I  preach  to  them.' 

"  Ko  Boke  appeared  extremely  mortified. 
'They  are  nothing  but  earth  and  water,'  he 
said  :  '  I  will  not  worship  them  any  more.' 

"  He  afterwards  told  Mrs.  Bixby  that  he  was 
never  in  his  life  so  ashamed  as  when  the  teacher 
took  him  to  hear  him  preach  to  the  gods. 

"  Weeks  passed ;  and  one  day,  after  reading 
the  fifty-fourth  of  Isaiah,  he  said,  '  I  can  not  and 
will  not  believe  in  Gaudama  and  Nigban.  For- 
merly this  religion  was  all  dark  to  me  :  now  it  is 
a  little  light,  and  Gaudama's  all  dark.' 

"  One  day  in  February,  1854,  they  started  on 


268  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

an  excursion  of  twenty  miles  on  the  Gyne  to 
Terraneh.  About  seven  o'clock  they  found 
themselves  fast  on  a  sand-bank. 

"  '  How  shall  we  push  off  ? '  asked  the  mis- 
sionary. 

"  The  night  was  fearfully  dark.  '  The  alliga- 
tors are  plenty,  and  several  men  have  been  killed 
here ;  let  us  wait  till  morning,'  said  the  boatman. 

"  But  Mr.  Bixby  dreaded  the  sun  more  than 
the  darkness. 

" '  I  am  not  afraid,'  said  Ko  Oung  Moo,  the 
native  assistant.  '  The  eternal  God  is  here.  He 
can  shut  the  mouths  of  the  alligators,  as  he  did 
the  mouths  of  the  lions.' 

"  Jumping  into  the  stream,  he  pushed  off  the 
boat,  and  they  were  soon  on  their  way.  With- 
out knowing  it,  Ko  Oung  Moo  had  preached  one 
of  his  best  sermons. 

" '  May  I  preach  at  Terraneh  ? '  asked  Ko 
Boke  presently  as  the  boat  glided  smoothly  on. 

" '  You  may  talk  about  Jesus  all  you  can,'  said 
Mrs.  Bixby  ;  '  but  we  want  most  that  you  should 
repent  of  your  sins,  and  become  a  disciple.' 

"  '  I  am  almost  convinced ;  but  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult.' 

"But  the  next  day  he  was  a  constant  help  in 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  269 

interpreting  and  illustrating  the  arguments  of 
the  missionary,  and  the  next  he  for  the  first  time 
prayed  audibly  to  the  eternal  God. 

"  Months  passed,  and  Mr.  Bixby  could  hardly 
doubt  Ko  Boke's  conversion,  but  was  greatly 
troubled  by  his  dread  of  baptism. 

" '  I  believe,  and  ought  to  be  baptized,'  he  said ; 
'but  I  am  ashamed  to  profess  Christ.' 

"  Then  his  children  and  brothers  would  beg 
him  not  to  forsake  them. 

" '  Don't  be  so  anxious  about  me,  teacher,'  he 
said  at  another  time  :  '  God  will  give  me  strength 
to  do  this  duty  by  and  by.' 

" '  I  fear  your  deceitful  heart  will  mislead  you ; 
and,  the  longer  you  delay  known  duty,  the  more 
difficult  it  will  be.' 

" '  But,  teacher,  you  remember,  that,  before  we 
went  to  the  jungle,  I  was  ashamed  to  go  from 
house  to  house  with  you.  I  would  not  so  much 
as  sing  a  hymn  with  you  ;  but  now  I  love  to  go 
with  you,  and  read  and  talk  and  sing  about  the 
true  God  and  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  because  God 
has  given  me  great  grace  and  strength  ;  and  will 
he  not  give  me  strength  to  endure  baptism  ? ' 

"  His  words  proved  true.  In  October,  1855, 
he  was  baptized. 


270  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  We  have  reason  to  rejoice  and  take  cour- 
age,' said  Ko  Oung  Moo, '  especially  as  he  cannot 
see  a  man  without  desiring  to  preach  to  him.' 

"  From  the  schools,  the  jungle-trips  of  Mr. 
Bixby,  and  the  brief  tour  of  Mr.  Brayton  among 
the  Pwos  of  the  newly-conquered  regions  just 
north  of  Maulmain,  might  be  gathered  any  num- 
ber of  incidents. 

" '  Where  is  your  God  ? '  asked  a  heathen  father 
of  his  little  son,  a  mission  schoolboy. 

" '  Where  is  my  father's  god  ? '  asked  the  boy. 

"  '  There/  said  the  father,  pointing  to  a  pagoda 
and  images. 

" '  Our  God  we  cannot  see  ;  but  he  sees  us : 
my  father  can  see  his  god ;  but  his  god  cannot 
see  him,'  replied  the  child. 

"  The  home-thrust  was  too  much  for  the  father, 
and  he  chastised  the  child ;  but  that  did  not  pre- 
vent his  continuing  to  attend  the  school  and  to 
pray  to  the  '  unseen  God.' 

"'Are  you  Jesus  Christ's  man?'  asked  a 
listener  in  one  of  the  jungle  villages. 

" '  Yes.' 

" '  Well,  I  heard  one  of  those  men  preach  about 
ten  years  ago ;  and  he  told  me  many  strange 
things,  and  gave  me  a  very  strange  book ;  and 
since  then  I  do  not  worship  Gaudama  any  more.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  271 

"  'Ah !  whom  do  you  worship  ? ' 

"  '  The  living  God/  he  answered,  pointing  up- 
ward. '  During  these  ten  years  I  have  been 
trying  to  find  one  of  Jesus  Christ's  men,  who 
could  tell  me  more ;  but  I  could  not  find 
one.' 

"  There  was  a  shade  of  sadness  with  the  mis- 
sionary's joy  as  he  thought,  '  This  man  may  be 
but  one  of  a  thousand  who  are  longing  to  find  a 
Jesus  Christ's  man,  and.cannot.' 

" '  Come  to  my  village,'  urged  the  man,  who 
proved  to  be  a  Peguan  and  a  doctor.  '  I  have 
read  the  book  to  my  neighbors,  and  some  are 
pleased,  and  others  displeased,  with  it.  Come  to 
my  village.' 

"  The  missionary  promised. 

"  When,  days  afterward,  the  man  caught  sight 
of  him  coming  up.  the  river  to  fulfil  the  promise, 
he  fairly  danced  for  joy,  exclaiming,  '  Now  we 
shall  get  the  light ;  now  we  shall  get  the  light ! ' 

"  And,  until  eleven  at  night,  Mr.  Bixby  preached 
Christ  to  the  listening  company  the  old  doctor 
had  gathered  together  from  his  neighbors. 

"  Mr.  Brayton,  on  his  tour,  entered  a  village 
where  no  white  missionary  had  ever  been  seen  ;. 
yet  here  was  a  band  of  four  baptized  by  a  native 


272  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

evangelist,  and  ten  or  fifteen  others  stigmatized 
by  their  neighbors  as  '  disciples  of  Christ.' 

"  In  spite  of  Burman  vigilance,  some  of  them 
had  learned  to  read.  It  was  curious  to  hear 
them  tell  how  they  had  secured  their  books  from 
the  enemy. 

"  '  I  put  them  in  a  chatty '  (earthen  box),  said 
one,  '  and  tied  them  up  in  the  top  of  a  tree. 
The  wind  blew  the  chatty  down,  and  smashed 
it :  then  I  put  them  in  a  covered  basket,  and  hid 
them  in  the  jungle  ;  but  the  rats  gnawed  a  hole 
in  the  basket,  and  ruined  many  of  the  books  : 
yet  I  have  preserved  from  every  foe  a  New 
Testament,  hymn-book,  and  spelling-book.' 

"  No  wonder  they  were  overjoyed  that  a  '  white 
foreign  teacher,'  with  a  fresh  supply  of  books, 
had  at  last  found  them. 

"  After  two  years,  Ko  Boke  was  encouraged 
by  the  conversion  of  a  doctor  in  the  city.  Other 
heathen  grew  more  willing  to  listen.  Baptisms 
became  a  little  more  frequent,  and  in  1869  we 
read  of  increasing  interest  in  the  city ;  while 
at  Kimahwet,  an  outstation  of  Maulmain,  four 
persons  over  fifty  years  old  were  baptized,  five 
others  were  new  converts,  and  many  inquirers. 

"  The  mission  gained  very  slowly  for  the  next 


OUR  GOLD-MINE,  273 

seven  years.  In  1876,  after  a  missionary  service 
of  more  than,  forty  years,  Dr.  Has  well  passed  to 
the  rest  of  heaven.  In  a  few  months  his  son,  J. 
R.  Haswell,  followed  him  ;  but  from  the  almost 
disorganized  mission  there  comes  a  report  of 
eighty-three  baptisms,  —  a  larger  number  than 
for  many  years  before.  At  present  the  Burman 
Church  numbers  two  hundred  and  seven,  and 
those  of  the  Karens  nine  hundred  and  thirty- 
eight 

"  At  all  the  stations,  but  especially  at  that 
Babel  of  all  tongues,  Rangoon,  might  often  be 
found  representatives  of  a  race  wholly  unlike 
both  Burmans  and  Karens,  called  Shans.  Usual- 
ly they  had  come  for  trading,  or  on  pilgrimage 
to  some  holy  place ;  for,  like  the  Burmans  and 
the  Siamese,  —  the  race  to  which  they  really  be- 
long, —  they  were  Buddhists.  Mrs.  Ingalls  men- 
tions one  time,  when,  on  one  of  her  tours  with  a 
native  assistant,  as  he  was  trying  to  preach  upon 
a  foggy  subject  amid  crying  children  and  barking 
dogs,  a  hundred  and  fifty  Shans  came  into  the 
zayat,  and  immediately  turned  their  corner  of  it 
into  a  cooking-place. 

"  At  another  time  she  speaks  of  meeting  a 
company  of  them  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Rangoon 
pagoda. 


274  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  Why  have  you  come  to  the  country  ? ' 
they  asked ;  and  she  told  them. 

" '  Good/  was  their  answer.  '  When  shall  you 
come  into  the  Shan  country  ? ' 

"Mrs.  Ingalls  had  heard  that  question  often, 
always  with  pain,  and  a  silent  prayer,  '  God  send 
some  one  to  the  Shans.' 

"  In  December,  1 860,  Mr.  Bixby,  who  had  been 
four  years  in  America,  went  out  as  their  mis- 
sionary. It  is  not  often  that  the  mountain  comes 
to  Mohammed :  it  did  in  this  case,  however,  but 
not  till  Mohammed  had  started  for  the  mountain. 
Mr.  Bixby  had  but  just  reached  Burmah,  when 
he  heard  that  a  tribe  of  Shans,  numbering  several 
thousand,  had  taken  refuge  from  oppressive  Bur- 
man  taxation  in  the  British  territory  near  Toun- 
goo.  Clearly  Providence  had  brought  his  field 
half  way  to  meet  him :  1861  found  him  in  it. 

"  The  Shans  listened  to  him  respectfully,  but 
timidly,  doubting  whether  his  coming  really  meant 
good  to  them.  The  idea  of  unselfish  labor  for 
others  had  never  entered  their  minds,  and  they 
could  not  understand  it.  But  the  Burmans,  who 
till  then  had  had  no  missionary  in  Toungoo, 
showed  unusual  interest.  Soon  one,  a  woman, 
was  baptized.  Then  came  a  re-action.  For  a  while 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  275 

the  name  of  Christ  was  heard  only  with  a  sneer ; 
scoffers  followed  the  missionary  from  place  to 
place,  ridiculing  any  who  listened  to  him ;  tracts 
were  rejected  with  insult. 

"  But  one  day,  in  the  bazaar,  Mr.  Bixby  was 
accosted  by  a  young  man  with  the  always-wel- 
come question, — 

"'Are  you  Jesus  Christ's  man?' 

" '  Yes.' 

" '  I  have  been  reading  your  books.  Have  you 
not  a  tract  called  "  The  Tree  of  Life  "  ? ' 

"'Yes.' 

" '  Well,  it  says  so  and  so/  giving  briefly  the 
substance  of  the  tract.  And  then  he  asked  for 
another  book  that  would  give  him  greater  light. 
Mr.  Bixby  saw  him  often  after  that.  He  proved 
to  be  a  man  of  fine  talent,  a  good  English  schol- 
ar, and  one  holding  a  high  position  under  gov- 
ernment. For  three  years  he  had  been  a 
believer,  but  ashamed  to  have  it  known. 

"  One  morning  he  came  to  Mr.  Bixby,  and 
asked  for  baptism. 

" '  My  shame  is  all  gone,'  he  said,  '  and  I  am 
bold  to  speak  for  Christ.  My  sins  are  all  forgiven 
through  Christ,  and  my  heart  is  light  and  happy.' 

"  The  value  of  such  a  gift  to  the  mission  could 


276  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

hardly  be  estimated.  At  once  he  gave  forty 
rupees  from  his  salary  to  aid  the  work  of  the  mis- 
sion. Soon  he  was  actively  engaged  in  telling 
the  story  of  Christ.  Four  others  followed  :  one 
was  banished  by  his  wife  and  friends ;  another  was 
dragged  upon  the  ground;  another,  a  woman, 
was  spit  upon  by  the  priest;  and  the  Burman 
vocabulary  was  emptied  of  insulting  words  for 
use  against  them.  But  all  stood. 

"After  about  a  year,  the  Shan  chief  gained 
enough  faith  in  Mr.  Bixby  to  bring  his  son,  a 
young  man  of  twenty-one,  to  him  for  education. 

" '  But  do  not  make  a  Christian  of  him/  he 
stipulated. 

"  *  God  only  can  make  Christians,'  said  Mr. 
Bixby.  '  But  it  is  my  duty  to  teach ;  and,  if  I  can- 
not do  that,  it  is  of  no  use  to  make  him  my 
pupil.  I  shall  not  force  him  to  worship,  nor  bap- 
tize him  if  he  does  not  ask  it,  or  is  not  fit  for  it.' 

" '  Well,'  said  the  chief,  '  take  him,  and  be  a 
father  to  him.' 

"  Soon  the  young  man  showed  a  preference  for 
the  Bible  above  all  other  studies. 

"  One  morning  a  few  weeks  later,  in  talking 
with  Mr.  Bixby,  he  said,  '  Teacher,  idols  are  not 
God ;  Gaudama  is  not  God :  the  Eternal  only  is 
God.  What  must  I  do  to  worship  him  ? ' 


* 


OUR   GOLF-MINE.  277 

"With  trembling  joy  Mr.  Bixby  directed  him; 
and  a  few  weeks  later  he  was  baptized,  the  first 
Shan  convert. 

"  Others  came ;  one,  Leingtaka,  a  doctor,  the 
best  educated  Shan  in  the  community,  and  a  most 
stubborn  Buddhist.  For  some  time  he  had  been 
Mr.  Bixby' s  teacher.  The  superiority  of  Mr. 
Bixby' s  medicines,  and  of  the  spirit  with  which 
he  gave  them,  first  drew  his  attention.  At  last, 
after  long  conflict,  he  came  for  baptism.  With 
him  came  a  sprightly  young  Shan,  his  former 
priest. 

"  '  I  have  given  him  rice  and  many  offerings,' 
Leingtaka  said  playfully, '  and  they  have  all  gone 
to  Nigban.  We  want  to  be  baptized,  and  hence- 
forth follow  Christ.' 

"  Everywhere  Leingtaka  went,  he  told  of 
Christ.  Very  soon  he  had  gathered  five  converts 
in  his  own  village. 

"  There  was  need  of  a  zayat ;  and  the  deputy 
commissioner  gave  Mr.  Bixby  a  plot  of  land,  the 
site  of  a  ruinous  old  pagoda.  Such  were  plenty 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  no  one  thought  of  re- 
pairing them  ;  but  the  priests  were  indignant. 

"  '  There  is  a  great  amount  of  silver  at  the 
base  of  the  pagoda,'  they  said. 


278  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  Dig  for  it,  and  take  it  away,  then  ;  I  do  not 
want  it,'  replied  the  missionary. 

"  For  several  days  they  dug,  but  in  vain. 

"'We  want  to  rebuild  the  pagoda,'  was  the 
next  plea. 

"  Mr.  Bixby  knew  this  was  false,  and  refused 
to  yield. 

" '  It  is  an  awful  sin  for  you  to  build  on  so 
sacred  a  spot,'  said  the  priests. 

"Even  some  of  the  converts  feared  no  one 
would  go  near  the  zayat,  if  built  there.  The 
excitement  was  intense.  '  Go  on  with  the  build- 
ing,' said  Leingtaka,  who  knew  the  Poongyees 
better.  Then  turning  to  them,  and  pointing  to 
the  pagoda,  he  said,  '  This  little  god  has  been  so 
neglected,  that  the  trees  and  grass  have  grown 
all  over  him  ;  and  they  had  become  so  heavy, 
that  the  god  complained  bitterly  of  weariness :  so 
Teacher  Bixby  has  had  compassion  upon  him,  and 
cut  away  the  bushes.  Furthermore,  for  a  long 
time,  you  have  not  visited  him  ;  you  have  given 
him  no  rice,  no  offerings,  but  have  given  all  your 
attention  and  offerings  to  the  great  Paya  over 
yonder  (pointing  to  a  great  pagoda  on  the 
hill) :  therefore  this  little  god  has  become  jealous 
of  you,  and  has  gone  over  to  a  better  teacher. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  279 

You  thought  it  would  be  a  great  sin  for  Teacher 
Bixby  to  build  even  by  the  side  of  this  little  god ; 
but  you  could  dig  into  his  side  and  take  out  his 
bowels,  and  carry  them  off,  in  your  greed  for 
gold,  and  yet  there  would  be  no  sin,'  Then,  be- 
coming serious  and  earnest,  he  told  them  of  the 
true  God,  closing  an  eloquent  sermon  with  the 
words, '  Brethren,  grass  does  not  grow  on  God.' 

"By  the  close  of  March,  1863,  Mr.  Bixby  had 
a  church  of  thirty  warm-hearted  brethren  and 
sisters  gathered  about  him,  of  whom  nineteen 
were  Shans.  In  the  last  days  of  the  same  year 
he  started  with  Mrs.  Bixby  on  a  trip  to  Shan- 
land. 

"  The  home  of  the  Shans  lies  between  Burmah 
and  Siarn.  It  must  be  reached  through  unknown 
and  hostile  regions.  Before  Mr.  Bixby  started, 
the  courage  of  most  of  his  attendants  failed  ;  but 
he  engaged  others,  —  Shans,  Burmans,  Karens, 
and  a  Madras  man,  —  and  went  on.  Now  up 
almost  insurmountable  hills,  then  through  almost 
unfathomable  mud,  occasionally  varying  the  scene 
by  a  tumble  from  their  ponies,  they  entered  the 
heart  of  the  glorious  mountain-region.  No  bird 
flitted  over  their  heads  ;  no  squirrel  ran  across 
their  path  ;  no  fly  buzzed  in  the  air.  A  mosquito 


280  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

would  have  been  almost  welcome  in  this  utter 
lifelessness ;  but  none  came.  Men  there  were, 
and  the  few  animals  man  brings  with  him  and 
plants  abundantly ;  but  nothing  between. 

"  At  last  they  reached  a  Geckho  village.  Thus 
far,  no  missionary  had  gone  among  the  Geckhos  ; 
but  they  were  well  acquainted  with  each  other 
by  reputation.  Before  Mr.  Bixby  started  on  his 
journey,  the  intrepid  Sau  Quala  had  warned  him, 
'  The  Geckhos  are  cut-throats  :  do  not  go  among 
them  ;  they  will  kill  you.' 

"The  impressions  which  the  Geckhos  had 
received  of  the  missionaries  were  scarcely  more 
favorable.  As  the  party  approached,  women, 
children,  and  many  of  the  men,  fled.  Others 
crept  around  in  the  thickets,  armed  with  spears, 
poisoned  arrows,  and  guns,  which  they  levelled 
at  Mr.  Bixby's  attendants.  But  at  last  Mr. 
Bixby  partly  re-assured  them. 

" '  When  men  come  to  fight,  they  do  not  bring 
their  wives  along,'  said  the  chief.  '  Let  them 
come  up.' 

"  They  were  received  by  a  semicircle  of  armed 
men,  who  retreated  as  they  advanced.  Once  at 
the  village,  Mr.  Bixby  tried  to  talk  with  them. 

"The  chief  was  shy  and  sullen.     'An  armed 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  281 

force  was  sent  here  by  the  English  Government,' 
he  said.  '  They  destroyed  our  property,  cut  our 
men  to  death  with  dahs,  seized  and  imprisoned 
our  chiefs,  and  all  for  no  offence  whatever.' 

"  Anger  flashed  from  all  the  other  faces  as  the 
chief  spoke. 

" '  But  I  am  no  government-officer,'  said  Mr. 
Bixby.  '  I  am  a  teacher  of  the  religion  of  Christ.' 

"  The  excitement  grew  stronger. 

"'*  They  were  Christians  that  fought  us,'  they 
exclaimed,  'and  they  were  sent  by  the  Toungoo 
teachers.' 

" '  I  will  lay  your  case  before  government,'  he 
said,  '  and  they  will  do  right.  Probably  they  did 
not  know  the  facts  of  the  case.' 

"  The  chiefs  countenance  changed.  '  Then 
this  teacher  is  our  friend,'  he  said. 

" '  Yes/  answered  the  people  :  '  this  teacher  is 
our  friend.' 

"  Next  he  proposed  '  drinking  truth '  with  Mr. 
Bixby.  As  '  drinking  truth '  is  only  the  Geckho 
way  of  promising  to  keep,  to  a  limited  extent, 
the  Golden  Rule,  and  Mr.  Bixby  intended  to  keep 
it  in  any  case,  he  agreed.  A  pig  was  killed,  and 
its  vitals  cooked  with  pepper  and  salt  for  the 
covenant. 


282  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

•  "  The  people  grew  familiar,  pulled  open  Mr. 
Bixby's  bags,  tried  on  his  riding-cap,  and  peered 
into  Mrs.  Bixby's  basket.  At  last  they  caught 
a  glimpse  of  his  revolver,  and  reached  out  eager 
hands  for  it. 

" '  No :  you  must  not  even  look  at  it  in  this 
crowded  house  ;  but  come  down  stairs  with  me, 
and  you  shall  see  how  it  is  made.' 

"  Talking  was  useless.  The  crowd  pressed 
upon  him  on  all  sides.  Accidentally  a  cartridge 
was  discharged,  and  the  ball  lodged  in  the  breast 
of  one  of  the  young  men.  Preparations  for  drink- 
ing truth  ceased  instantly.  Fierce,  distrustful 
eyes  glared  upon  Mr.  Bixby.  Plainly,  if  the 
wound  proved  fatal,  more  than  one  life  would  be 
lost,  Mr.  Bixby  took  the  boy  to  his  room,  and 
nursed  him  more  anxiously  than  if  he  had  been 
his  own, 

"  It  proved  to  be  only  a  flesh-wound.  In  the 
evening  they  '  drank  truth,'  though  a  few  refused 
to  unite  in  it ;  among  them  the  brother  of  the 
young  man. 

" '  If  he  lives,'  he  said,  still  clinging  to  his 
spear,  '  it  will  be  well.' 

"  On  Sunday,  Mr.  Bixby  preached  to  them  ; 
but  every  hour  brought  some  fresh  alarm.  All 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  283 

night  long,  signal-fires  were  kept  burning,  *  that 
the  women  might  see  to  catch  rats  for  breakfast,' 
they  said.  Possibly,  as  he  looked  at  them,  Mr. 
Bixby  had  something  of  a  fellow-feeling  with  the 
rats.  By  morning  the  wounded  man  was  better, 
and  the  people  made  their  morning-calls  on  the 
missionary  without  guns. 

"Three  days  of  rather  monotonous  travel 
brought  the  party  to  Shan-land.  Perhaps  it 
would  have  varied  the  monotony  if  they  could 
have  heard  a  conversation  among  the  Shans  and 
coolies  on  the  second  night.  It  was  after  this 
sort :  — 

"  '  The  teachers-  have  five  hundred  rupees  in 
silver,  and  two  hundred  in  gold.  When  we  have 
crossed  the  border,  and  are  in  the  jungle,  it  will 
be  a  good  time  to  kill  them  and  the  assistants, 
burn  the  tent  and  bodies,  take  the  money  and 
provisions,  and  go  where  we  please.  No  one 
will  ever  know  what  has  become  of  them.' 

" '  Yes  :  then  I  could  wear  gold  in  my  ears.' 

" '  I  was  leader  of  a  band  of  banditti  in  this 
region.  I  know  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  of  my 
sort  in  these  mountains.  If  we  fail,  we  can  de- 
liver them  into  their  hands.' 

" '  But  we  shall  not  fail.     If  we  are  prevented 


284  OUZ   GOLD-MINE. 

to-night,  we  can  do  it  to-morrow.  If  any  of  the 
coolies  refuse  to  join,  they  can  be  given  up  to 
the  banditti,  and  killed.' 

"  Persuaded  thus,  the  coolies  all  agreed  to  join. 
The  leader  pierced  a  vein  in  his  arm,  mingled 
the  blood  with  kyong,  and  gave  all  to  drink. 

"  *  I,'  he  said,  '  will  put  a  spear  through  Mr. 
Bixby  while  he  is  asleep.' 

" '  And  I,'  said  the  one  who  wanted  '  gold  in 
his  ears,'  'will  kill  Mrs.  Bixby  and  the  head 
assistant.' 

" '  The  rest,'  they  added,  '  will  be  afraid,  and 
shiko  to  us  ;  and  we  can  kill  them  at  leisure.' 

"  But  the  plot  was  too  horrible  for  three  of 
the  coolies :  before  evening,  they  had  betrayed 
it  to  Mr.  Bixby.  Then  Mr.  Bixby  remembered 
that  his  Shan  attendants  had  insisted  on  his 
buying  an  extra  supply  of  arms  '  to  defend  him- 
self and  Mrs.  Bixby.'  Cautiously  he  revealed  the 
plot  to  his  Burmans  and  Karens.  Before  nine, 
the  fires  of  the  coolies,  usually  kept  burning  all 
night,  were  put  out. 

"  Mr.  Bixby,  not  caring  to  have  his  movements 
watched  while  his  enemies  were  wrapped  in  dark- 
ness, put  out  his  own  fires  too. 

"  Soon  they  heard  a  crashing  in  the  bushes. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  285 

"'A  wild  elephant  is  coming!  —  fire,  teacher, 
fire ! '  cried  the  Shans. 

"  Mr.  Bixby  discharged  one  shot  from  his 
doubl e-barrelled  gun. 

" '  Fire  again  ! ' 

" '  No  :  if  you  want  to  keep  the  elephants  away, 
kindle  your  fires.' 

"  They  kindled  them  a  little,  but  soon  put  them 
out  again.  Another  wild  elephant  was  heard.  A 
Shan  jumped  up,  and  started  toward  Mr.  Bixby. 

"'Don't  you  come  here,'  said  Mr.  Bixby. 

" '  There's  an  elephant,  teacher.' 

" '  Go  back,  or  I  shall  fire  upon  you.  If  you 
are  afraid  of  the  elephant,  kindle  your  fires.' 

"  The  fires  were  again  lighted.  Every  little 
while  the  leader  arose,  looked  around,  came  a 
little  toward  Mr.  Bixby' s  tent,  went  back,  and 
thrust  his  spear  impatiently  into  the  ground. 
There  was  no  sleep  on  either  side  that  night. 

"  Morning  came  at  last.  Mr.  Bixby  revealed 
the  plot  to  his  Geckho  guides. 

" '  We  must  go  back  immediately,'  they  said  ; 
and  so  said  the  Burmans.  Only  one,  a  Karen, 
agreed  to  go  on,  if  the  teachers  did. 

"To  go  on  into  a  hostile  country,  with  murder- 
ers only  for  attendants,  was  not  to  be  thought 


286  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

of.  To  dismiss  the  murderers,  and  let  them 
loose  where  they  could  rally  their  hundred  and 
fifty  friends,  was  not  much  better.  To  take  them 
back  with  them  was  dangerous  ;  'for  the  murder- 
ers were  the  stronger  party.  The  only  hope  was 
in  dividing  them. 

"In  the  morning,  Mr.  Bixby  armed  his  best 
assistants,  took  a  gun,  and  told  the  coolies  that 
he  knew  their  plot. 

"  A  deprecatory  growl  was  the  reply.  They 
suspected  as  much. 

"  '  Several  have  confessed,'  Mr.  Bixby  added. 

<( '  Who  have  confessed  ?  who  have  told  any 
thing  ? '  they  demanded. 

"  *  I  certainly  shall  not  tell.' 

"  Then  came  a  storm  of  vociferation,  denials, 
and  questions. 

"  •'  Be  silent,  at  the  peril  of  your  lives,'  com- 
manded Mr.  Bixby.  *  It  is  useless  to  talk.  I 
know  all  your  plans.  Some  have  joined  you 
from  fear  :  those  I  can  forgive.  If  they  will 
take  up  their  baskets,  and  go.  quietly  back  to 
Toungoo,  I  shall  make  no  more  complaint 
against  them.  Others  have  plotted  willingly, 
because  their  hearts  are  bad,  and  they  want 
money :  they  must  go  another  way.'  He  then 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  287 

called  the  names  of  all  but  three,  telling  them, 
if  they  had  no  heart  in  this  plot,  to  show  it  by 
coming  and  giving  him  their  spears. 

"  All  but  one  came.  '  I  have  fault,  and  am 
afraid,'  he  said ;  but  Mr.  Bixby  thought  best  to 
take  him  with  him. 

"The  other  three  were  fearfully  enraged. 
Keeping  them  at  bay  with  his  gun,  Mr.  Bixby 
demanded  their  spears  and  dahs.  They  refused 
to  give  them  up.  Bringing  his  gun  in  range,  he 
ordered  one  of  the  men  to  go  and  take  them.  It 
was  done ;  and  with  heavy  hearts  the  mission- 
aries turned  their  faces  homeward." 

"  It  strikes  me  it  would  be  rather  a  peculiar 
picture  for  the  magazine,"  remarked  Charlie,  — 
"  the  missionary  standing,  with  a  company  of 
the  '  poor  heathen '  around  him,  levelling  his 
gun  at  them." 

"  I  fear  Mr.  Bixby's  face  didn't  wear  the  ex- 
pression of  the  ox  between  the  altar  and  plough, 
lowing  out,  '  Ready  for  either,'  just  then,"  said 
Walter  ;  "  but  I've  always  thought  ^should  like 
that  ox  better  if  he'd  been  drawn  shaking  his 
horns  a  little." 

"  I  doubt  if  he  ever  came  nearer  to  realizing 
the  spirit  of  those  words  than  at  that  moment," 


288  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

said  Mrs.  Bancroft ;  "  and  he  had  ploughed  a 
furrow,  though  not  permitted  to  sow  the  seed. 

"When  he  returned,  he  found  the  wounded 
Geckho  boy  still  doing  well. 

" '  Why  go  to  them  ?  why  not  send  teach- 
ers to  us,  who  want  to  learn  ? '  asked  a  Geckho 
chief. 

"  Mr.  Bixby  laid  before  government  the  case 
of  the  attacked  Geckho  village.  A  commission 
sent  to  examine  found  their  complaint  just.  A 
few  years  before,  some  Christian  villages  had 
been  attacked  by  Geckhos.  The  Karen  police 
corps  —  a  body  perhaps  as  '  Christian '  as  most 
similar  organizations  in  this  country  —  sent  by 
the  deputy  commissioner  to  arrest  the  attack- 
ing chiefs  had  mistaken  the  aggressors,  and  vis- 
ited the  wrong  village.  One  of  the  arrested 
chiefs  died  in  jail :  the  other  was  discharged 
through  the  intercession  of  Dr.  Mason.  Now,  the 
wounded  feelings  of  the  villagers  were  soothed 
by  a  present  of  five  keezees,  —  Shan  bells, 
worth  sevelfc  hundred  rupees,  and  greatly  prized 
by  them  ;  and  very  soon  half  a  dozen  Geckho 
villages  were  clamoring  for  teachers.  A  year 
later,  the  Geckho  chief  proposed  buying  two 
ponies ;  not  a  very  marked  advance  toward  re- 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  289 

ligion,  if  he  had  been  an  American  :  but  Geckho 
superstition  forbade  ponies ;  and  the  native 
preacher  rejoiced  more  at  this  victory  over  it 
than  at  the  -fact  that  one  of  the  ponies  was  to  be 
for  his  own  use.  The  way  to  Shan-land  no 
longer  lay  through  a  hostile  country. 

"  Converts  multiplied  among  the  other  moun- 
taineers. At  one  time  (in  1864)  Mr.  Bixby  had 
accepted  for  baptism  a  company  of  fifty-five,  — 
Geckhos,  Bghais,  Saukoos,  and  Padongs.1  A 
part  of  them  came  from  villages  clinging  to  the 
hills  on  either  side  of  a  deep  gorge,  where  a 
mountain-stream  had  chiselled  out  a  beautiful 
baptistery. 

"  '  Meet  me  at  the  gorge  on  Sunday,'  he  said, 
'  and  all  can  be  baptized  at  the  same  time.' 

"  '  No,  no,  no ! '  came  the  answer  :  '  that  will  not 
do.  We  cannot  all  be  baptized  in  the  same 
water.' 

"  « But  how  is  that  ? '  asked  Mr.  Bixby. 

"  Then  came  the  story  of  feuds,  that  had  sepa- 
rated their  villages  far  more  widely  than  did  the 
gorge  and  the  mountain-stream. 

1  The  general  name  Karen  is  applied  by  the  Burmans  to  these, 
in  common  with  all  mountain-tribes.  There  are,  however,  considera- 
ble differences  between  them. 


290  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  What ! '  exclaimed  Mr.  Bixby,  amused,  but 
still  trusting  his  wild  brethren :  '  are  not  your 
old  hearts  dead  yet?  Are  you  going  to  take 
them  with  you  into  the  church  ?  .What  have 
you  to  do  with  dead  hearts  ?  Why !  were  you 
not  washed  in  the  same  blood  ?  Are  you  not 
joined  to  one  Spirit  ?  Are  you  not  going  to 
the  same  heavenly  home  ?  Who  will  put  up  a 
partition  between  you  there  ? ' 

" '  Oh  !  never  mind,  never  mind,  teacher.  We 
will  be  baptized  in  the  same  water.' 

" '  How  are  you  ?  where  are  you  at  the  date 
of  this  letter  ?  I  have  been  in  prayer  for  you 
now/  wrote  a  friend  to  Mr.  Bixby  on  the  22d  of 
May.  On  the  morning  of  that  day,  on  the  ring- 
ing of  the  gong,  Mr.  Bixby  and  the  company 
of  converts  from  his  side  the  river,  dressed  in 
their  best  crimson  silks,  went  down  the  steep 
mountain  into  the  gorge.  Nothing  was  visible 
of  the  party  from  the  other  side. 

"A  call  from  one  of  Mr.  Bixby 's  party,  an  an- 
swering shout  from  across  the  stream,  and  then 
Mr.  Bixby' s  whole  company  shouted  together. 
The  others  responded  ;  the  mountains  caught  up 
the  sound  ;  the  opposite  mountains  re-echoed  it ; 
and  soon  the  two  parties  were  in  sight  of  each 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  291 

other.  A  joyful  greeting  followed :  they  joined 
with  each  other  and  the  hills  in  a  song  of  prSise  ; 
and  then  the  fifty-five  happy  converts  were  led 
down  into  '  the  same  water.' 

"Two  years  later,  at  Shwanaughyee,  among 
the  villagers  who  had  received  him  almost  on 
their  spear-points,  Mr.  Bixby  married  a  sister  of 
the  chief  to  one  of  his  preachers,  and  received 
her  with  two  others  for  baptism.  At  the  same 
time,  in  Kyah  Maing,  another  of  the  villages  he 
passed  through  on  his  Shan  trip,  he  organized  a 
church  of  seventeen. 

"  Two  years  later,  with  Mr.  Gushing,  Mrs.  Bix- 
by, and  Miss  Gage,  he  made  another  trip  through 
the  country.  Then  every  village  was  open  to 
welcome  him.  Heathenism  and  intemperance 
had  fled  from  Kyah  Maing.  Thirteen  were 
ready  for  baptism.  At  Shwanaughyee  the 
chief  laughed  heartily  as  Mr.  Bixby  playfully 
alluded  to  his  first  reception  there.  A  Christian 
chapel  was  building  there  now.  He  attended  a 
covenant-meeting,  and  listened  to  their  confes- 
sions. Their  very  sins  marked  the  greatness  of 
the  change :  one  had,  when  thirsty,  eaten  a 
cucumber  not  his  own ;  another,  in  his  anxiety 
to  reach  his  sick  teacher,  had  travelled  several 


292  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

miles  on  the  sabbath :  but  all  were  penitent ; 
and,*  after  the  meeting,  six  were  received  for  bap- 
tism. 

"  But  from  that  trip  Mr.  Bixby  was  carried  to 
Toungoo,  dangerously  ill.  In  May,  1869,  he 
left  for  America. 

"In  1870  Mr.  Gushing  took  up  his  residence 
in  Toungoo.  The  Shans  are  always  a  trading 
people,  and  so  not  often  stationary.  Left  to 
themselves  for  more  than  a  year,  the  Shan  Chris- 
tians had  become  much  scattered.  In  1871  an 
intelligent  young  Shan  was  baptized,  and  at  once 
placed  in  charge  of  the  school.  Mr.  Kelley,  a 
young  man  of  great  promise,  went  out  the  same 
year,  but  after  only  eleven  months  in  the  field, 
while  on  a  tour  in  the  Shan  states,  was  drowned. 
Six  hundred  miles  from  Toungoo,  outside  of 
British  Burmah,  under  the  protection  only  of  the 
Burman  king,  lies  the  city  of  Bahmo.  In  the 
fall  of  1876,  after  careful  inspection,  Mr.  Gush- 
ing became  satisfied  that  this  place  was  at  pres- 
ent the  true  centre  of  the  Shan  mission  ;  and 
removed  there,  where  he  still  remains,  the  only 
white  missionary  in  Upper  Burmah." 


CVW 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ASSAM.  —  BRAHMAN1SM    AGAIN. 

i  F  one  works  in  the  same  line  week  after 
week,  and   there   isn't  the  least  bit  of 
change,  but  every  thing  stays  exactly 
as  it  was,  what  then  ? "  asked  Katie. 

"  Give  up,  and  try  something  else,"  said 
Charlie. 

"  Change  your  style  of  working,"  said  Walter. 
f<  Stop  and  think  whether  the  work  was  worth 
doing  at  all,"  said  Clarence,  guessing  more  nearly 
than  the  others  the  real  bearing  of  Katie's  ques- 
tion. 

All  these  answers  were  thrown  in  while 
grandpa  Sears,  to  whom  the  question  was 
really  addressed,  was  preparing  to  give  his. 

"A  sensible  person  must  have  stopped  and 
thought  before  beginning  the  work,"  he  said  ; 
"  and  if  he  has,  and  has  taken  what  seemed  to 

393 


294  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

him  the  best  way  of  working,  and  it  seems  so 
still,  he  had  better  go  on.  The  world  we  live  in 
didn't  seem  to  amount  to  much  for  a  good  many 
thousand  years  after  it  was  created ;  but  God 
didn't  give  it  up  and  try  another." 

"  But  I  don't  believe  the  world  was  useless  all 
that  time,"  said  Katie.  "  It  was  a  lesson-book  for 
the  angels,  if  nothing  more." 

"  The  birds  and  sea-monsters  didn't  know  it," 
answered  grandpa.  "  Perhaps  you,  too,  may  be 
serving  as  a  lesson-book  for  somebody." 

"  The  work  of  at  least  sixteen  hundred  years 
seems  to  have  been  pretty  thoroughly  rubbed 
out  in  the  flood,"  said  Clarence. 

"  No,  young  man,"  said  grandpa  earnestly  (he 
always  spoke  earnestly  when  addressing  Clar- 
ence) :  "  the  world  after  the  flood  was  what  it 
was  because  there  had  been  a  world  before  the 
flood.  God  never  rubs  out  his  work.  You'll 
know  that  some  time,  —  before  it  is  too  late, 
God  grant.  '  He  fainteth  not,  neither  is  weary.' " 

"  But  he  knows  how  his  work  will  turn  out  in 
the  end,"  said  Katie.  "  If  we  did,  we  could  tell 
what  to  do." 

"  We  do,"  said  grandpa. 

Katie's  next  question  was  asked  only  by  a 
look. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  295 

" '  We  know  that  our  labor  is  not  in  vain  in 
the  Lord,'  "  he  answered.  "Katie,  if  you've  un- 
dertaken something  worth  doing,  and  have  gone 
to  work  for  it  in  the  best  way  you  knew,  go 
ahead.  All  fruit  doesn't  ripen  on  the  outside 
first.  Some  doesn't  till  it  is  just  ready  to  drop. 
Perhaps  yours  is  that  sort." 

Walter  never  dreamed  that  this  conversation 
had  to  do  with  him.  Ever  since  that  one  night, 
months  before,  Katie  had  watched  anxiously  for 
the  fulfilment  of  the  hopes  then  awakened. 
Even  during  these  last  busy  weeks  her  thoughts 
and  prayers  had  gone  out  for  him  more  than  for 
any  or  all  of  the  many  fields  into  which  her  labor 
had  been  called.  If  a  library-book  was  selected, 
company  invited,  or  a  lecture  attended,  the  upper- 
most thought  was  always, "  Will  it  help,  or  hinder, 
Walter  ? "  and  all  her  words  and  actions  were 
carefully  guarded,  that  she  might  not  hinder  the 
work  she  dared  not  hope  she  could  directly  help. 
But  in  all  that  time  he  had  spoken  no  word  to  en- 
courage her.  The  appearance  of  anxious  thought 
that  marked  the  weeks  that  followed  had  passed 
away,  and  she  feared  no  decision  had  been 
reached.  True,  his  gentleness  and  helpfulness, 
his  interest  in  missions,  his  readiness  to  defend 


296  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

religion,  remained  ;  but  she  began  to  fear,  that, 
as  Charlie  said,  this  was  "  only  to  be  on  the  oppo- 
site side  from  Clarence." 

And  the  saddest  thought  of  all  was,  that,  had 
she  been  a  consistent  Christian  from  the  first, 
she  might  by  this  time  have  been  able  to  help 
him. 

"  I  suspect  mother  has  a  story  of  discouraging 
labor  for  you  to-night,"  said  grandpa. 

"  It  will  answer  your  question  better  than  I 
could,  perhaps." 

"  It  will  show  you  how  God  has  answered  it, 
which  is  better,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft. 

"  To-night  let  us  leave  Burmah  and  our 
Buddhist  and  Karen  friends,  and  journey  to  the 
north-east  till  we  find  ourselves  among  our  old 
acquaintances,  the  Brahman s,  in  a  land  border- 
ing closely  upon  Bengal,  where  Carey  first  raised 
the  missionary  standard  in  1793.  We  are  in 
Assam,  a  country  where  almost  every  thing 
might  be  done,  and  nothing  is.  Its  forests  offer 
material  for  building  any  thing,  from  a  basket 
to  a  temple;  its  ground  holds  out  perpetual 
cards  of  invitation  in  the  shape  of  petroleum, 
coal,  cotton,  grain,  spices,  tea,'  and  the  fruits  of 
both  torrid  and  temperate  climates ;  there  are 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  297 

m-trees  for  silk- worms,  and  bargack-trees  for 
India-rubber,  and  trees  bearing  varnish  and 
gums,  and  dye-stuffs  of  many  colors.  No  won- 
der the  old  Brahmans,  when,  centuries  before, 
they  brought  their  gods  here,  fancied  that  the 
country  took  its  name  from  Asama,  '  unrivalled.' 
But  when,  in  1836,  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  Cutter 
came  here,  they  found  what  Carey  found  when 
he  first  set  foot  in  Bengal,  —  a  people  poor  and 
ignorant,  leaving  all  their  thinking  to  be  done 
by  the  priests ;  a  priesthood  busiest  in  reaching 
out  long  arms  to  rake  in  rupees  and  annas,  and 
in  inventing  new  falsehoods  with  which  to  repay 
the  trust  of  the  people  ;  '  the  whole  country  one 
vast  Sodom  ; '  above  it  all,  the  swarm  of  gods 
worshipped  in  costly  temples  by  rites  only  less 
vile  than  their  own  'histories  ;  and  around,  and 
binding  all,  the  terrible  chain  of  caste. 

"  And  the  same  slow  work  was  to  be  done 
here  that  Carey  did  in  his  first  years  in  Bengal, 
with  only  this  difference,  —  that  the  missionaries 
had  converted  the  East-India  Company  in  those 
forty  years,  and  its  officers  were  their  warmest 
friends.  C.  A.  Bruce,  an  agent  of  the  company, 
first  suggested  the  mission  ;  and  Capt.  Francis 
Jenkins  aided  it  with  money  and  advice  as  liber- 
ally as  if  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Board. 


298  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  It  was  not  to  the  Assamese  that  the  mission- 
aries were  first  sent.  Besides  them,  there  were 
in  Assam  Ahoms,  Khamtis,  and  other  Shan 
races,  all  closely  allied  to  each  other,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Siamese  family ;  Bengalis,  and  the 
usual  host  of  ruder  tribes,  Mikirs,  Nagas,  Kakh- 
yens,  Garos,  Kosaris,  —  wandering  races,  —  most 
plenty  on  the  hills,  kind  to  those  they  liked, 
cruel  to  those  they  disliked,  but  arranging  their 
likes  and  dislikes  upon  principles  so  arbitrary, 
that  no  man's  fate  among  them  could  be  predict- 
ed beforehand.  Over  most  of  them  the  Brahman 
divinities  held  no  sway.  They  believed  vaguely 
and  theoretically  in  a  God,  strongly  and  practi- 
cally in  devils  or  evil  spirits,  and  charms.  Be- 
sides this,  each  tribe  held  its  own  theory,  or 
none,  of  prayer  and  sacrifice,  and  an  after-death 
where  there  were  boiling  oceans,  and  fields  of 
fire,  and  frail  bridges  over  awful  chasms,  and 
beyond  them  thrones  and  pleasant  fields,  and 
happiness,  or  at  least  laziness,  for  the  good. 

"  The  first  aim  of  the  missionaries  was  the 
conversion  of  the  Khamtis.  Their  first  settle- 
ment was  in  Sadiya.  Their  first  months  were 
given  principally  to  the  study  of  the  language 
and  translations. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE,  299 

"  In  October,  1836,  Mr.  Thomas  and  Mr. 
Bronson,  with  their  wives,  sailed  to  join  the 
mission.  After  they  had  crossed  the  ocean,  and 
sailed  for  two  months  on  the  Brahmapootra,  Mr. 
Bronson  was  taken  sick.  Mr.  Thomas  hastened 
on  in  a  small  boat  to  procure  medicine.  When 
within  three  hours'  sail  of  Sadiya,  two  loose  trees 
on  the  bank  fell  into  the  river,  crushing  the  boat, 
and  drowning  Mr.  Thomas  almost  instantly. 

"  Mr.  Bronson  removed  in  a  few  months  to 
Jaipur,  south-west,  of  Sadiya,  attracted  chiefly  by 
its  situation  in  a  desirable  neighborhood." 

"  Of  English  officers  ?  "  asked  Charlie. 

"  No.  Mr.  Bruce  lived  there ;  but  the  neigh- 
bors whose  acquaintance  Mr.  Bronson  especially 
sought  were  the  Nagas,  who  made  their  home  in 
the  hills  near  by.  They  were  one  of  the  strong- 
est of  the  hill-tribes,  and  are  best  described  by 
their  chief,  from  whom  Mr.  Bronson  asked  leave 
to  teach  them. 

"'The  Nagas,'  said  he,  'are  like  birds  and 
monkeys,  lighting  on  this  mountain,  and  stop- 
ping on  that ;  and  no  white  man  can  live  among 
them  to  teach  them.  As  soon  as  the  boys  are 
old  enough,  they  put  into  their  hands  the  hatchet 
and  spear,  and  teach  them  to  fight  and  make  salt. 
Beyond  that  they  know  nothing.' 


300  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"Mr.  Bronson  did  not  enter  their  village 
wholly  without  a  welcome.  A  cook-house  was 
at  once  built  for  him,  a  spring  of  water  given 
up  to  his  company,  and  eggs,  milk,  and  potatoes 
brought  and  set  before  them ;  but,  immediately 
after,  a  long  council  was  held  concerning  him 
(followed  in  due  time  by  six  others).  He  read 
the  Ten  Commandments  to  them.  Some  they 
heard  with  a  sneer ;  but  others,  especially  the 
second  and  eighth,  they  approved ;  for,  though 
they  worshipped  evil  spirits,  they  were  no  idola- 
ters, and  stealing  was  a  capital,  offence  among 
them.  Once  Mr.  Bronson  attended  one  of  their 
funeral  ceremonies. 

"  '  What  divinity  has  taken  away  our  friend  ? 
Who  are  you  ?  Where  do  you  live  ?  —  in  heaven, 
or  on  the  earth,  or  under  the  earth  ?  Who  are 
you  ?  Show  yourself.  If  we  had  known  of  your 
coming,  we  would  have  speared  you,'  sang  the 
chorister. 

" '  Yes,'  responded  the  people,  brandishing 
their  dahs. 

"  '  We  would  have  cut  you  in  pieces,  and  eaten 
your  flesh.' 

" '  Yes,'  responded  the  people,  waving  their 
glittering  spears  in  defiance. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  301 

"  And  these  questions  and  threats  might  almost 
be  said  to  comprise  the  sum  of  Naga  theology. 

"  An  armed  attack  upon  Sadiya  by  the  Kham- 
tis,  whom  they  had  come  to  convert,  was  one  of 
several  arguments  which  led  the  missionaries  to 
remove  to  Jaipur.  The  military  followed ;  then 
the  inhabitants ;  and  Sadiya  was  '  abandoned  to 
tigers  and  jackals.' 

"  Mr.  Bronson  was  visiting  his  neighbors  in 
the  Naga  hills  at  the  time  of  the  attack.  He 
hastened  to  Jaipur,  fearing  for  his  family,  who 
were  there ;  but  the  place  was  not  attacked. 
Here,  in  May,  1840,  he  met  his  sister  (Miss  Rhoda 
Bronson)  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barker.  His  sister 
went  with  him  at  once  to  the  Naga  hills,  where 
he  had  moved  his  family.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barker 
remained  about  a  year  at  Jaipur,  and  then  moved 
to  Sibsagor.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  soon  followed. 

"  Miss  Bronson's  work  was  finished  almost 
before  it  was  begun.  Constant  fever  obliged  her 
and  her  brother  to  leave  the  hills.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1840,  she  died  at  Jaipur.  In  October,  1841, 
Mr.  Bronson  moved  to  Nowgong.  Chiefs  and 
people  had  learned  to  love  him. 

"  Translation  was  Mr.  Brown's  principal  work; 
printing,  Mr.  Cutter's.  In  addition,  Mr.  Brown 


302  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

preached  at  Sibsagor  and  the  surrounding 
villages,  and  found  time  for  frequent  less  regular 
encounters  with  the  Brahman  gods.  Sometimes, 
taking  a  prism  for  a  text,  he  would  prove  that  the 
rainbow  was  not  Vishnu's  bow,  with  which  the 
god  shot  the  demons  who  were  trying  to  drink 
the  rain  ;  or,  with  a  triangle  roughly  marked  on 
a  board,  he  showed  that  the  height  of  trees  and 
buildings  could  be  told  without  climbing  them ; 
and  how  the  moon's  distance  had  been  measured, 
and  found  not  to  be  sixteen  hundred  thousand 
miles  ;  and  that  the  sun  was  almost  four  hundred 
times,  instead  of  only  half,  as  far  off  as  the  moon. 
He  told  them  he  had  come  from  a  land  beneath 
their  feet,  and  seen  that  there  was  no  Mount 
Meru  eighty  thousand  miles  thick,  nor  room  for 
one ;  nor  for  the  five  elephants  on  whose  heads, 
each  eight  thousand  miles  thick,  the  earth  stood ; 
nor  for  the  four  oceans  of  rum  and  milk  and 
butter  and  sugar:  and  yet  all  these  things  were 
in  their  Shasters.  And  the  people  listened,  won- 
dered, then  perhaps  turned  to  the  priests  with 
the  question,  '  What  have  you  to  say  ? '  And  the 
priests  were  sometimes  silent,  sometimes  angry  ; 
but  neither  priests  nor  people  could  help  seeing. 
Discussions  among  themselves  grew  common. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  303 

And  there  were  other  signs  that  showed  very 
slowly,  but  really,  in  the  little  circle  around  the 
stations,  that  Brahmanism  was  fading  out;  but 
as  yet,  after  five  years  of  labor,  there  was  not 
one  sign  that  Christianity  would  take  the  place 
left  vacant, 

" '  I  cannot  alter  my  religion,'  said  one  of  the 
best  informed.  '  It  would  subject  me  to  want ; 
for,  being  a  Brahman,  I  cannot  work.' 

"  Probably  he  spoke  what  many  thought ;  and 
the  lower  castes  followed  the  Brahmans. 

"  One  day  in  May,  1841,  just  before  Mr.  Brown 
left  for  Sibsagor,  there  came  to  him  Nidhiram, 
one  of  the  apprentices  in  the  printing-office,  ask- 
ing the  longed-for  question,  '  What  shall  I  do  to 
be  saved  ? '  It  had  been  asked  before,  but  only 
as  a  man  at  home,  and  meaning  to  stay  there, 
might  idly  ask  the  nearest  route  to  China.  This 
man  was  in  earnest.  The  next  day  he  came 
again.  Again  Mr.  Brown  pointed  him  to  Christ. 

" '  I  am  willing  to  give  myself  into  the  hands 
of  God,'  he  said  at  last. 

"  In  the  afternoon  he  came,  rejoicing  in  God. 
Two  weeks  later  he  was  baptized.  He  dropped 
the  name  of  the  heathen  god  Ram,  and  took, 
instead,  that  of  Levi  Farwell. 


304  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  Six  months  later  another  was  baptized,  awa- 
kened by  reading  a  tract,  'The  True  Refuge.' 
In  June,  1842,  at  Sibsagor,  two  others  were  awa- 
kened, —  Semai  and  Kolibar.  Both  left  off  opium, 
and  came  regularly  to  pray  with  the  missionaries. 
But  old  habits  were  too  strong.  Soon  Kolibar 
went  back  to  his  opium.  The  next  step  was  to 
send  word  to  the  missionaries  that  he  would  pray 
at  his  own  house,  instead  of  theirs  ;  and  for  a  long 
time  little  was  heard  from  him. 

"  In  the  autumn  of  1843  Mr.  Cutter  removed 
with  his  press  to  Sibsagor. 

"In  February,  1845,  the  head  printer,  Batiram, 
was  taken  sick,  and  sent  for  Mr.  Cutter. 

" '  Can  none  of  the  Hindoo  gods  whom  you 
have  worshipped  save  you  ? '  asked  Mr.  Cutter. 

" '  Oh,  no !  my  mind  is  not  in  the  least  inclined 
to  think  of  them/  was  the  answer. 

" '  Do  you  think  Jesus  Christ  can  pardon  your 
sins  ? ' 

" '  Oh,  yes !  and  I  have  believed  this  truth  for 
the  past  two  years,  and  I  have  prayed  to  him 
night  and  morning  for  nearly  that  time,  without 
the  knowledge  of  a  single  human  being,  except 
the  lad  who  lives  with  me." 

"  The  next  day  he  was  better.     '  Will  you  not 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  305 

pray  with  me  ? '  he  asked  as  Mr.  Cutter  arose 
to  leave. 

" '  For  what  shall  I  pray  ? '  asked  Mr.  Cutter. 

" '  That  I  may  obtain  a  new  heart,  and  have  my 
sins  pardoned/  was  the  answer. 

"  Every  day  brought  new  evidence  that  Batiram 
was  converted.  On  the  24th  he  surprised  Mr. 
Cutter  by  asking  to  have  all  the  men  in  the  office 
called  together,  that  he  might  read  and  pray  with 
them. 

"  There,  before  them  all,  he  confessed  his  faith 
in  Christ,  and  his  cowardice  in  not  owning  him 
earlier.  .  Two  weeks  later  he  was  baptized.  He 
stood  bravely  a  storm  of  ridicule  from  his  rela- 
tives ;  and  in  a  few  months  his  cousin,  Ram  Sing, 
one  of  the  bitterest  of  his  opposers,  joined  him 
as  a  Christian.  A  little  earlier  the  old  inquirer 
Kolibar  had  forsaken  his  opium,  and  joined  the 
church.  Soon  Nidhi  Levi  and  Batiram  were  en- 
gaged with  Mr.  Brown  in  preparing  an  Assamese 
hymn-book. 

"In  1846  the  annual  missionary  meeting  was 
held  at  Novvgong.  Before  it  closed,  seven  from 
the  orphan  institution  were  baptized.  Others 
not  connected  with  the  institution  were  convert- 
ed. The  same  year  five  were  baptized  at  Sibsa 
gor,  and  two  by  Mr.  Barker  at  Gowahati. 


306  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  In  January,  1 850,  Mr.  Barker  died  on  his  way 
to  America.  A  month  later  his  place  was  filled 
by  Mr.  Dauble,  a  German  Lutheran  missionary 
in  Assam,  who  for  years  had  had  doubts  on  the 
subject  of  baptism,  but  repressed  them  because 
of  the  contempt  in  which  Baptists  were  held  in 
his  own  country.  Coming  to  Assam,  acquaint- 
ance with  the  missionaries  altered  his  views  of 
their  denomination ;  and  he  commenced  earnest 
investigation.  On  the  24th  of  February  he  was 
baptized.  Three  intensely  earnest  years,  spent 
in  the  school,  the  street,  and  the  jungle,  finished 
his  work.  He  died  March  23,  1853. 

"In  November,  1847,  Messrs.  Danforth  and 
Stoddard,  and  in  July,  1850,  Messrs.  Whiting 
and  Ward,  with  their  wives,  left  America  for 
Assam. 

"Except  an  occasional  visit  from  cholera,- 
small-pox,  or  a  brother-missionary,  for  years  life 
went  on  monotonously  enough  at  the  three  mis- 
sion stations.  '  It  is  the  trenches  that  try  soldiers, 
not  the  battle,'  is  a  saying  just  half  true,  but  as 
true  in  the  Christian  warfare  as  in  any.  The 
main  work  in  Assam  was  digging  and  pounding, 
undermining  and  battering  walls  that  seemed 
immovable.  If  an  opening  at  any  time  was  made 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  307 

in  one  wall,  it  was  only  to  reveal  another  wall 
behind  it. 

"  '  You  must  think  me  a  great  fool,  if  you 
suppose  I  would  give  up  the  merit  gained  by 
seventy  years'  service  of  Ram  for  the  little  I 
could  gain  by  two  or  three  years'  service  of 
Christ,'  said  an  old  man  to  Mr.  Whiting.  With 
the  more  thoughtless  this  was  the  most  common 
objection.  Convince  them  of  the  worthlessness 
of  their  '  merit/  and  the  next  question  would  be, 
'  But,  if  I  become  a  Christian,  shall  I  not  lose 
caste  ? '  and  at  the  answer,  '  Yes/  many  a  hope- 
ful inquirer  turned  away  decidedly  and  forever. 
If  deep  conviction  overthrew  this  wall,  it  was 
only  to  find  a  stronger  one  in  the  almost  univer- 
sal habit  of  opium-eating. 

"  All  owned  their  sinfulness.  '  Light  sins  ' 
theirs  were  usually,  —  lying,  stealing,  and  the 
like.  They  had  never  killed  a  cow,  nor  struck  a 
Brahman  :  still  they  owned  that  such  sins  as  they 
committed  every  day  entitled  them  to  almost 
infinite  punishment.  But  then  there  was  another 
side.  The  repetition,  or  even  the  hearing,  of 
the  name  of  a  god,  brought  almost  infinite 
merit:  so  the  day  would  be  given  to  vice  or 
dishonesty  ;  and  at  night,  mumbling  rapidly  the 


308  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

name  of  Krishna  or  Ram,  they  would  sink  into 
the  deep  sleep  of  the  opium-eater,  feeling  that 
their  account  was  probably  somewhere  near 
square ;  or  if  not,  and  there  was  a  balance  of  a 
million  years  or  so  on  the  wrong  side,  they 
could  not  alter  what  fate  decreed. 

" '  You  want  to  teach  the  people  about  Jesus 
Christ ;  but  no  one  will  listen  to  you,  or  receive 
your  words,'  was  almost  the  first  salutation  Mr. 
Danforth  met  on  entering  one  of  their  villages. 

" '  Ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  will  reject  the 
gospel  at  first,'  he  answered  ;  '  but  in  the  end  it 
will  triumph.  The  reason  so  many  reject  it  is 
they  do  not  examine  it.  I  am  like  a  man 
coming  among  you  bringing  a  hundred  rupees  in 
a  box,  and  offering  it  to  whoever  will  take  it. 
Nine  out  of  ten  refuse  to  take  the  trouble.  The 
tenth  says  to  himself,  "  Why,  it  is  no  great 
'trouble  to  open  it ;  and  there  may  be  something 
in  it."  He  reaches  out  for  the  box,  opens  it,  and, 
lo !  he  is  the  possessor  of  a  thousand  rupees.' 

"They  saw  the  application,  and  seemed 
ashamed  of  their  objection.  They  listened  with 
surprise  as  he  told  them  of  the  triumphs  of 
Christ  in  Burmah  and  Bengal,  and  of  the  con- 
verts in  Assam.  A  gurn  and  two  Brahmans 
came  up,  and  the  people  dispersed. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  309 

"  But  as  he  went  through  the  village,  and  be- 
yond it,  their  first  words  seemed  to  him  almost 
like  a  prophecy. 

"  The  only  thing  that  always  arrested  attention 
was  the  relation  of  Christian  experience.  Those 
who  are  ignorant  of  both  can  match  Shaster 
against  Bible,  Krishna  against  Christ,  as  well  in 
Assam  as  in  America ;  and  the  Assamese  knew 
scarcely  any  thing  of  their  own  scriptures.  But 
for  Christ  in  the  soul  they  had  no  parallel.  Hin- 
dooism  has  no  religious  experiences,  and  they 
knew  it.  Often  as  Mr.  Ward  touched  this, 
theme,  he  was  interrupted  by  the  question, '  Can 
I  obtain  this  inward  witness  ?  Tell  us  how  we 
can  obtain  it.' 

"  In  the  beginning  of  the  next  year,  two  of  the 
oldest  girls  in  Mrs.  Brown's  boarding-school  at 
Sibsagor  were  awakened  and  converted.  Their 
joy  aroused  the  four  next  younger,  and  for  a 
while  there  was  little  study  in  the  school ;  for 
Mrs.  Brown  found,  if  she  left  them,  they  would 
separate,  each  to  find  some  room  where  she 
might  pray  alone. 

"  The  next  year  brought  more  fruit ;  among  it 
a  Brahman  girl  and  her  mother.  Ten  years 
later  there  was  a  revival  at  Sibsagor,  in  which 


310  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

ten  were  converted,  several  from  the  school ; 
and,  before  Mrs.  Brown  died,  she  had  the  joy  of 
knowing  that  all  who  had  been  under  her  care 
in  the  school  had  become  Christians.  There 
were  like  scenes  in  the  orphan  institution  at 
Nowgong,  under  Mr.  Bronson's  care,  and  in  1853 
a  revival  in  Mrs.  Danforth's  boarding-school  at 
Gowahati. 

"  For  some  years  Nidhi  Levi  and  Batiram  were 
active,  earnest  preachers.  One  day  in  January, 
in  the  midst  of  a  tour  with  Mr.  Whiting,  as  they 
were  talking  of  their  delightful  work,  Batiram 
said,  '  Something  whispers  to  me,  "  The  time 
is  short."  '  Four  months  later  he  met  the  last 
enemy  as  fearlessly  and  joyously  as  he  had  met 
all  others.  His  mother,  a  strong-minded,  sensi- 
ble woman,  had  come  with  him  to  Sibsagor 
about  a  year  before.  A  rigid  Hindoo,  Christi- 
anity seemed  to  her  some  dreadful  infection. 
She  loved  her  son  as  she  would  if  he  had  taken 
the  small-pox,  and  shrank  quite  as  much  from 
eating  or  living  with  him.  A  little  shelter  was 
built  for  her,  and  there  she  cooked  and  ate  her 
solitary  meals.  But,  when  she  saw  her  son  car- 
ried through  death  as  she  had  never  seen  human 
being  carried  through  it  before,  she  believed 


OUR  GOLD-MItfE.  311 

in  the  God  he  worshipped,  and  was  angry  with 
him,  —  angry  that  he  had  taken  away  the  staff 
of  her  old  age.  For  weeks  she  remained  incon- 
solable. 

"  At  last,  one  day  she  came  to  Mrs.  Brown  a 
picture  of  distress,  and  told  her  grief. 

" '  Do  you  ever  pray  ? '  asked  Mrs.  Brown. 

"  '  Pray  !  What  is  there  for  me  to  pray  for  ? 
I  get  nothing  but  trouble  here.  The  Lord  has 
taken  away  my  son  ;  and,  if  I  pray  at  all,  it  is 
that  he  would  take  me  too.' 

"  But  from  that  time  she  began  to  attend 
prayer-meetings. 

"  At  last,  in  a  female  prayer-meeting,  she  knelt 
and  prayed,  '  The  Lord  has  taken  away  my  dear 
son  as  a  punishment  for  my  sins.  The  will  of 
the  Lord  be  done.  Have  mercy  upon  me,  a 
poor  sinner,  and  fit  me  to  join  him  in  heaven. 
Have  mercy  upon  my  step-son  and  two  daugh- 
ters, who  are  in  total  darkness,  and  bring  them 
to  the  light  of  this  true  religion.'  Tears  choked 
her,  and  she  could  go  no  farther.  There  was 
not  a  dry  eye  in  the  room.  It  was  the  turning- 
point  ;  but  more  than  a  year  passed  before  she 
wholly  gave  up  caste  and  the  charms  she  used 
for  her  ailments.  This  delayed  her  baptism. 


312  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

But  when,  at  last,  she  had  forsaken  all,  and,  after 
a  few  months,  was  told  that  she  might  now  be 
baptized,  she  wept  for  joy. 

"In  1853  Mr.  Cutter's  connection  with  the 
society  closed  ;  and  Mr.  Brown  added  printing  to 
translating  and  preaching  till  1855,  when  he  left 
to  repair  in  America  the  wear  of  more  than 
twenty  years'  uninterrupted  service.  He  had 
now,  besides  translating  the  catechism  and  part 
of  Genesis  into  Shan,  translated,  and  three 
times  revised,  the  New  Testament  in  Assamese, 
and  translated  most  of  Genesis,  and  the  striking 
portions  of  other  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 
These  last  were  published  as  tracts,  or  in  '  The 
Orunodoi,'  a  weekly  Assamese  newspaper  start- 
ed by  the  missionaries  in  1846. 

"  Dark  times  followed.  Opium-eating  and  in- 
temperance increased  fearfully  with  the  English 
trade.  Often,  as  the  missionary  passed  from 
village  to  village,  the  hopeful  inquirer  of  the 
year  before  would  meet  him  with  the  stupid  stare 
that  told  always  the  same  story  of  slow  poison- 
ing for  mind  and  body.  Tea-planting  brought 
to  Assam  large  numbers  of  the  most  dissolute 
English,  who  enjoyed  enticing  converts  into 
their  employ.  Yet  by  the  heathen  all  white 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  313 

men  were  taken  as  types  of  Christianity.  A 
few  of  the  converts  grew  steadily  stronger  till 
death  ;  more  were  at  one  time  or  another  sus- 
pended or  excluded ;  but  most  of  the  entire 
number  were  what  Mrs.  Bronson  calls  '  anxious 
comforts  ; '  not  wolves  certainly,  hardly  sheep, 
but  very  puny  lambs,  needing  constant  nursing. 

"  For  the  first  years  the  converts,  driven  from 
their  former  occupations  by  loss  of  caste,  were 
taken  into  the  employ  of,  or  placed  on  land  be- 
longing to,  the  mission  ;  and  when  Mr.  Whiting 
found  it  necessary  to  break  up  this  arrangement, 
and  throw  them  upon  their  own  resources,  he 
says,  '  I  have  been  called  by  some  of  our  native 
Christians  such  names  as  the  Assamese  vocabu- 
lary abounds  with,  and  which,  if  expressed  in 
English,  would  not  be  thought  promotive  of 
edification.' 

"Then  came  the  terrible  years  of  1857  and 
1858,  when  the  streets  of  Cawnpore  and  Delhi 
ran  blood,  and  the  missionaries  in  Assam  ex- 
pected daily  to  share  the  fate  of  their  brethren 
in  Hindostan.  For  six  months,  Mr.  Danforth 
drilled  daily,  in  soldier  garb,  in  full  view  of  a 
large  company  of  mutinous  Sepoys,  that  he 
might  be  prepared  to  defend  his  family  and  the 


314  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

mission  property  to  the  last.  Then  sickness 
drove  one  after  another  from  the  field,  till,  for  a 
year,  Mr.  Whiting  was  the  only  missionary  in 
Assam.  Mr.  Tolman  came  in  1859:  but  almost 
from  the  first  his  health  failed ;  and,  in  less  than 
two  years,  he  returned  to  America  ;  not,  how- 
ever, till  he  had  welcomed  Mr.  Bronson  and  Mr. 
Ward  back  to  Assam. 

"In  February,  1861,  just  before  leaving  for 
America,  Mr.  Whiting  baptized  three  at  Sibsa- 
gor,  —  the  first  for  six  years.  The  next  month, 
six  more  were  baptized  by  Mr.  Ward  ;  and  the 
revival  continued  nearly  through  the  year.  Mr. 
Bronson  took  charge  at  Nowgong.  The  little 
interest  rallied,  and  soon  six  converts  were  bap- 
tized there. 

"  Among  the  first  acquaintances  the  founders 
of  the  Assam  mission  made  were  the  Mikirs, 
less  savage  than  many  other  hill-tribes,  gener- 
ally drunkards,  about  one-tenth  part  opium-eat- 
ers. 

"  Their  creed  was  simple,  — '  God  will  reward 
those  who  do  right,  and  punish  those  who  do 
wrong.' 

" '  What  is  it  to  do  wrong  ? '  asked  the  mission- 
ary. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  315 

" '  Not  to  worship  God,  to  steal,  and  to  cut 
each  other  in  pieces,  is  wrong :  the  opposite  is 
right.' 

"  Mr.  Tolman  made  a  long  tour  among  them 
in  1859,  talked  with  them  in  'broken  Assamese 
seasoned  with  Mikir,'  and  received  for  answer, 
'  Your  words-  are  good  and  true ;  but,  if  we 
should  receive  them,  the  mountain-spirit  would 
kill  us  at  once.' 

"  But  fever,  the  '  real  mountain  spirit,'  made 
the  missionary  its  prey  almost  before  his  work 
was  begun;  and  early  in  1861  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  the  country,  not  to  return. 

"  Still  the  Mikirs  came  often  to  the  mission- 
house  at  Nowgong-;  and  some  learned  to  read. 

" '  Monkeys ! '  said  the  Assamese.  '  You  have 
no  religion  of  your  own,  and  so  come  to  the 
Padre  Sahibs  to  learn  one.' 

"In  December,  1862,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott 
arrived  as  their  missionaries. 

" '  The  Tolman  white  teacher  attempted  to  live 
among  the  hills,  and  teach  the  new  religion,  but 
was  quickly  driven  away  by  the  deities :  so  the 
same  angry  deities  will  send  fever  among  the 
new  teachers  if  they  attempt  to  visit  them  ;  and 
among  the  people  will  be  a  curse,  —  failure  of 


316  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

crops,  and  sickness,'  predicted  the  Mikir  proph- 
ets. 

"Already  the  commissioner,  Major  Hartson, 
had  promised  a  monthly  donation  of  fifty  rupees 
for  a  normal  school  among  them ;  and  Rong 
Bong,  a  Mikir  chief,  had  started  a  new  village, 
and  built  a  house  and  schoolhouse  for  the 
teacher  he  believed  would  some  time  come.  Mr. 
Scott  made  a  tour  among  his  parishioners,  and 
then  started  a  Mikir  school  at  Nowgong,  which 
soon  grew  to  twenty-five,  most  of  them  intelli- 
gent, active  young  men,  whose  time  was  valua- 
ble at  home. 

"  '  Here  is  my  son,  whom  his  father  and  moth- 
er love  very  much,'  said  a  Mikir  chief  as  he 
brought  Mr.  Scott  his  little  boy.  '  Our  people 
are  all  ignorant,  and  we  who  are  old  must  die  so  ; 
but  the  children  may  learn  wisdom.  With  his 
mother's  consent,  I  have  brought  our  son  to  give 
him  to  you.  We  wish  him  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian, and  a  wise  and  good  man.  Take  him,  and 
be  a  father  to  him.'  And,  without  waiting  for  a 
reply,  the  chief  turned  away ;  while  the  mission- 
ary pVayed,  '  Lord,  give  me  such  confidence 
in  thee.' 

"  A  field  was  kept  where  they  could  work  for 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  317 

their  support.  They  were  generally  willing,  ac- 
tive laborers ;  but  at  one  time  Mr.  Scott  was 
obliged  to  call  to  account  three  or  four  of  them 
for  tardiness.  Their  hung  their  heads  in  silence, 
and  he  was  about  to  reprove  them. 

" '  Yes,'  said  one  bolder  than  the  rest, '  it  is  our 
fault.  We  are  ashamed  ;  but  last  night,  as  we 
sat  down  to  read  God's  word,  and  pray  together, 
before  going  to  sleep,  we  found  so  many  good 
words,  that  we  kept  on  reading  and  talking  about 
them  till  the  morning  light  came.  Then  we  lay 
down,  and  overslept  our  time.' 

"  On  inquiry,  he  found  that  they  often  so  spent 
half  the  night. 

"  In  the  last  days  of  1864  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott 
made  an  interesting  visit  to  the  Mikir  hills.  But 
the  words  of  their  prophets  were  fulfilled  to  the 
letter,  and  through  1865  missionary  work  was 
done  mainly  in  the  sick-room.  But  this  seemed 
most  effective  of  all.  Several  were  converted. 
One  was  impatient  to  carry  the  news  to  his  na- 
tive hills. 

" '  But  the  streams  are  swollen,  and  the  poison 
miasma  fills  the  jungle/  said  Mr.  Scott. 

"  '  I  know  it  well,'  was  the  answer  ;  '  but  what 
are  such  miasmas  compared  with  the  pains  of  a 


318  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

lost  soul  ?  If  I  delay  till  the  jungle  is  safe,  my 
father,  brother,  and  sister  may  all  die  without  a 
Saviour.' 

"  In  1866  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scott  left  for  America. 
The  fulfilment  of  the  predictions  of  their  proph- 
ets led  to  the  withdrawal  of  a  number  of  Mikir 
youth  from  the  school.  Two  prominent  converts, 
one  the  old  Mikir  chief  Rong  Bong,  fell  away ; 
and  such  efforts  were  made  to  seduce  the  rest, 
that  Mr.  Scott,  on  his  return  in  1868,  pronounced 
'  each  day  of  faithful  living,  by  one  of  these  poor, 
weak  disciples,  scarcely  less  a  miracle  of  grace 
than  the  first  awakening  to  new  life.' 

"  The  same  year  came  one  of  the  terrible 
cholera  seasons  common  in  the  East.  Mr.  Scott 
labored  incessantly  among  the  sick  and  dying 
for  six  months,  and  then  himself  fell  a  victim. 
Mrs.  Scott  was  at  once  invited  to  Sibsagor ;  but 
she  could  not  leave  her  Mikirs.  '  I  gave  myself 
to  the  work  of  missions  before  ever  I  knew  my 
precious  husband,'  she  said ;  and  alone,  with  the 
care  of  three  children,  she  took  charge  of  the 
station. 

"And  at  last,  at  the  close  of  1869,  the  Mikir 
mission  was  able  to  report '  a  year  of  steady  prog- 
ress.' The  work  in  the  hills  was  well  carried 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  319 

on  by  Habe  and  Mon,  two  former  pupils  ;  several 
were  converted  in  the  school ;  wanderers  re- 
turned ;  while  there  seemed  to  be  a  gradual 
waking-np  among  those  outside. 

"  '  Yes,  yes,'  said  old  Rong  Bong, '  I  see  it  all. 
I  see  how  those  young  men  are  leading  our  peo- 
ple out  of  the  wilderness  ;  and  I,  alas  !  who  should 
have  been  an  Omed,  am  an  outcast  from  God, 
reaping  the  bitter  fruit  of  my  sins.'  " 

"Who  was  Omed?  and  what  had  he  done?" 
asked  Edith. 

"  To  answer  that  question,  I  must  tell  you  the 
story  of  Gowahati  and  the  Garo  mission,  and 
give  you  the  record  of  the  most  successful  series 
of  failures  in  our  missionary  history. 

"In  1843  Mr.  Bronson  started  an  orphan 
institution  at  Nowgong.  At  first  it  promised 
to  be  a  true  nursery  for  the  church.  Certainly 
children  brought  under  the  eye,  and  almost  into 
the  family,  of  the  missionary,  with  caste  already 
broken,  —  its  wall  separating  them  from  heathen- 
ism, instead  of  from  Christianity,  —  could  be 
'educated  into  Christian  character,' if  anybody 
could.  But  the  test  of  years  proved  that  the 
separation  often  made  temptation  more  danger- 
ous when  it  came  ;  that  to  find  honorable  employ- 


320  OVR  GOLD-MINE. 

ment  for  the  orphans  as  they  grew  up  was  not 
easy ;  that  with  small-pox,  fever,  cholera,  impa- 
tience, indolence,  and  total  depravity,  among  the 
pupils,  the  care  of  the  institution  demanded  the 
whole  time  of  one  missionary ;  and  often  there 
was  but  one  at  Nowgong.  The  heathen,  instead 
of  being  impressed  by  such  an  example  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence,  said, '  You  will  break  our  caste, 
unfit  us  to  enter  any  one's  house,  and  then  cast 
us  off  to  starve  ; '  a  false  charge,  but  not  without 
effect.  In  1856  the  orphan  institution  was  given 
up.  Two  years  later,  but  five  Christians  could 
be  found  in  Nowgong. 

"  True,  some  promising  ones  had  moved  away, 
and  some  had  gone,  happy  and  thankful,  from 
the  asylum  to  a  home  in  heaven.  But  promis- 
ing ones  do  not  always  perform,  when  scattered, 
one  in  a  place,  among  heathen  neighborhoods  ; 
and  the  dead  do  not  increase  the  annual  tables 
of  statistics,  —  to  some  eyes  the  ultimate  object 
of  all  missions. 

"  Perhaps,  if  it  could  then  have  been  known 
that  from  the  dispersed  orphans  '  more  Christian 
helpers  would  be  raised  up  than  from  any  other 
one  instrumentality/  the  sending  of  an  additional 
missionary  might  have  seemed  a  better  solution 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  321 

of  the  problem  than  the  abandonment  of  the 
enterprise  ;  but  this  was  hidden  in  the  future. 

"  In  1844  Mr.  Barker  moved  to  Gowahati. 
Years  passed  by ;  conversions  were  few  ;  mis- 
sionaries died,  or  left  disabled.  Dishonesty,  in- 
temperance, opium-eating,  and  other  vices,  among 
the  professed  converts,  and  the  certainty  that  at 
least  half  of  the  few  inquirers  came  from  no  good 
motives,  disheartened  the  always  over-worked 
laborers.  They  made  earnest,  tearful  appeals ; 
but  the  chief  ground  of  these  appeals  was  the 
amount  of  seed  already  sown  there,  the  mass 
of  unmoved  heathenism  around,  and  the  graves 
of  missionaries.  In  fact,  for  years,  the  mission 
sustained  to  the  Baptist  denomination  the  rela- 
tion of  an  unnecessary  cat  in  a  tender-hearted 
family,  —  tolerated,  because  nobody  has  the  heart 
to  kill  it.  In  1859  there  was  left  there  only  a 
pastorless  and  almost  invisible  church,  a  tiny 
flock  of  half-grown  lambs,  so  feeble,  that  the 
breath  of  life  in  them  seemed  hardly  wor,th  pre- 
serving, with  only  wolves  to  care  for  them,  and 
the  nearest  shepherd  a  hundred  miles  away. 

"  Mr.  Bronson  made  them  a  flying  visit  now 
and  then  from  Nowgong,  and  wrote  earnest 
letters  home,  begging,  entreating,  threatening 


322  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

almost,  at  times,  till  the  people  were  tired  of 
reading  them  ;  and  '  The  Macedonian '  only  no- 
ticed the  receipt  of  '  one  of  Mr.  Bronson's  usual 
appeals  for  Assam.' 

"  So  Gowahati  was  counted  a  failure. 

"In  1856,  Mr.  Bion,  an  English  Baptist  mis- 
sionary in  Dacca,  made  a  tour  to  Assam,  touched 
at  Gowalpara,  preached,  scattered  tracts  and 
books,  and  returned,  reporting  'a  wide  door 
open  for  effort.'  Nobody  entered  at  the  door  : 
the  tracts  and  books,  so  far  as  heard  from,  were 
torn  in  pieces,  swept  into  the  mud,  or  sold  to 
others  for  a  pice  or  two  each. 

"  Mr.  Bion's  Assam  trip  was  a  failure. 

"  Among  the  mountains  of  Assam,  for  centu- 
ries past,  have  lived,  fought,  and  died  the  Garos, 
—  a  race  more  savage  and  bloodthirsty,  and  far 
more  truthful  and  honest,  than  any  of  the  tribes 
around.  For  more  than  fifty  years  they  •  had 
been  a  perplexing  problem  to  their  English 
neighbors.  They  were  no  cowards  :  their  fre- 
quent raids  upon  the  Bengalis  at  the  foot  of 
their  hills  proved  that.  Indeed,  a  Bengali  skull 
was  considered  a  necessary  part  of  the  furniture 
of  a  stylish  Garo.  Not  many  other  things  were 
necessary.  A  strip  of  cloth,  with  the  addition 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  323 

of  a  dozen  heavy  ear-rings  for  the  ladies,  served 
for  dress.  For  food  they  liked  meat  and  ardent 
spirits.  At  great  entertainments,  these,  too, 
must  be  served  in  a  fresh  human  skull.  On 
such  occasions  a  puppy  is  coaxed  to  eat  all  the 
rice  it  will,  and  then  thrown  alive  into  the  fire, 
and  roasted,  making  a  most  rechercht  dish, — 
not  at  all  more  disgusting  to  us  than  our  habit 
of  drinking  milk  is  to  them. 

"They  have  little  in  common  with  civilized 
races,  except,  perhaps,  slavery,  cotton-planting, 
and  woman's  rights :  for  among  the  Garos,  while 
either  party  can  propose  marriage  to  the  other, 
only  the  woman  has  liberty  to  reject  a  proposal ; 
and,  though  man  can  divorce  his  wife  only  by 
giving  up  to  her  his  children  and  all  his  property, 
a  woman  can  divorce  her  husband  at  any  time. 
In  agriculture  they  are  in  advance  of  most 
mountain-tribes. 

"  They  have  no  temples  nor  images,  but 
worship  by  sacrificing  white  cocks,  pigs,  goats, 
bullocks,  young,  dogs,  liquor,  rice,  and  flowers  to 
the  spirits  of  these  hills.  Many  a  rich  Garo  has 
made  himself  poor  by  his  fruitless  "efforts  to 
persuade  these  deities  or  demons  to  keep  their 
hands  off. 


324  .  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"Such  were  the  Garos  in  1782,  when  Mr. 
Elliot  was  sent  to  '  inquire  into  the  disturbances ' 
among  them ;  and  such  essentially  were  they  in 
1860,  when  they  made  their  last  great  raid  upon 
their  Bengali  neighbors. 

"  Under  the  eye  of  the  British  Government  for 
a  century,  entirely  surrounded  by  British  territory 
for  quarter  of  a  century,  they  were  still,  accord- 
ing to  the  lieutenant-governor  of  Bengal,  '  the 
most  desperate  and  incorrigible  tribe  in  all  the 
British  dominions.' 

"  Judging  it  by  the  same  test  we  apply  to  mis- 
sions, —  the  change  wrought  for  the  better,  —  the 
British  conquest  of  the  Garo  hills  was  a  failure. 

"  In  1849  Mr.  Stoddard  baptized  Kandura,  a 
boy  of  twelve  years,  from  the  orphan  institution 
at  Nowgong,  then  under  his  charge.  The  mis- 
sionaries had  already  learned  that  giving  the 
names  of  Judson,  Boardman,  and  Carey  to  their 
orphans,  was  much  easier  than  imparting  charac- 
ters to  correspond.  Perhaps  it  was  on  that 
account  that  to  young  Kandura  was  given  the 
surname  '  Smith,'  which  it  might  reasonably  be 
hoped  he  would  succeed  in  living  up'  to.  He 
proved  to  be  a  good  scholar  and  business-man, 
and  in  time  was  appointed  to  an  office  under 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  325 

government,  with  a  salary  of  forty  rupees  per 
month,  at  Gowahati. 

" '  Gowahati  tmist  have  a  pastor,'  he  said  ;  and 
he  spared  neither  pains  nor  money  to  obtain 
one  ;  but  all  his  efforts  failed. 

"  Already  he  had  charge  of  all  the  business- 
affairs  of  the  church.  At  last  he  resigned  his 
office  under  government,  and,  with  a  salary  of 
fifteen  rupees  per  month,  took  the  pastorate  of 
the  Gowahati  church. 

" '  Can  you  hold  on  till  some  one  arrives  ? ' 
asked  Mr.  Bronson. 

" '  My  wish  is  to  hold  on  till  death,'  was  the 
answer. 

"  When  Mr.  Bion  visited  Gowalpara,  there 
were  at  the  government  school  there  ten  Garos. 
Some  of  them  had  learned  to  read  Bengali. 
One  of  them,  Omed,  bought  for  '  a  pice  or  two ' 
one  of  the  tracts  Mr.  Bion  had  distributed,  and 
the  Psalms  of  David.  After  a  while  Omed  en- 
listed as  a  sepoy,  and  was  placed  on  guard 
before  one  of  the  mission  bungalows  that  had 
been  rented  to  a  British  officer.  In  cleaning 
the  house,  some  leaves  of  tracts  were  swept  out. 
One  of  them,  '  Error  Refuted,'  he  picked  up, 
and  read.  The  conviction  seized  him  that  this 


326  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

was  truth.  He  went  to  the  native  Christians 
for  more  books.  His  comrades  became  alarmed. 

" '  Omed,'  they  said,  '  what  is  this  you  are 
doing  ?  Are  you  going  to  become  a  Kistan  ?  ' 
(a  word  of  cutting,  contempt.) 

"  Still  he  persevered.  He  gave  his  books 
and  tracts  to  two  others,  Ramke  and  Rangku  ; 
and  they,  too,  were  awakened.  Finally,  he  and 
Ramke  were  both  baptized  by  Mr.  Bronson 
into  the  church  at  Gowahati. 

" '  Is  there  no  missionary  for  my  people  ? ' 
was  Omed's  first  question ;  but  there  was  none. 

"  '  If  there  was  a  missionary  here,  or  at  Gow- 
alpara/  they  said,  '  we  would  strike  our  names 
from  the  list  of  sepoys,  and  go  teach  our 
people ;  but  we  have  no  one  to  teach  us,  and  we 
are  too  ignorant  now  to  go  forth.  We  often  get 
worldly  and  wicked  during  the  week ;  but  when 
we  come  on  the  sabbath,  and  hear  brother  Kan- 
dura  explain  the  Bible,  our  hearts  get  happy  and 
fixed.' 

"  Both  of  them  had  good  government  situa- 
tions ;  but  at  last,  after  remaining  a  year  or 
more  under  Kandura's  instruction,  they  re- 
signed, and  went  out  as  missionaries. 

" '  I  am  sorry  Omed  wishes  to  leave  the  regi- 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  327 

ment,  wrote  his  colonel, '  as  he  is  a  very  steady, 
well-conducted  sepoy  ;  quite  an  example  to  many 
in  the  regiment.' 

" '  I  am  glad  to  see  any  one  who  is  willing  to 
attempt  the  reformation  of  those  blood-thirsty 
savages  ;  I  hope  you  will  succeed,'  said  the 
lieutenant-governor  of  Bengal  to  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, in  a  tone  indicating  the  profoundest 
incredulity. 

"  In  1866  the  third  Garo,  Rangku,  was  bap- 
tized. At  the  same  time,  there  came,  from 
eight  Garos  awakened  by  the  preaching  of 
Omed  and  Ramke,  an  appeal  for  help.  Success 
awakened  bitterest  opposition.  Thinking  the 
tigers  of  the  jungle  safer  neighbors  than  the 
human  tigers  of  the  hills,  Omed  removed  to 
the  valley,  built  there  a  grass  hut,  and  lived  there 
alone  with  his  brave  Wife  for  a  year,  preaching 
to  the  Garos  that  passed  on  their  way  to  mar- 
ket, and  making  visits  to  his  old  neighbors  of 
the  hills.  Other  families  joined  him.  Finally 
a  village  was  built  there,  —  Rajamala,  a  city  of 
refuge  for  persecuted  Christians.  As  no  mis- 
sionary had  visited  them,  of  course  none  were 
baptized. 

"  In  1867  Mr.  Bronson  paid  them  a  visit.     At 


328  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

Damra,  Ramke  had  a  school  and  public  worship. 
Till  a  late  hour  they  talked,  and  sang  Christian 
hymns  ;  and  then  all  together  knelt  in  prayer. 

"  At  Omed's  village  a  crowd  waited  to  receive 
them.  The  village  was  clean  ;  its  forty  houses 
new  and  orderly  ;  and  the  largest  and  best  was 
the  place  of  worship,  built  wholly  by  the  worship- 
pers. Mr.  Bronson  carried  with  him  a  tent,  but 
never  pitched  it ;  for  a  clean  house  was  at  once 
assigned  him.  He  went  to  the  chapel.  It 
was  crowded  with  eager  listeners.  He  spoke 
in  Assamese,  and  the  assistants  interpreted. 
They  listened  with  intensest  interest ;  but  it  was 
plain  that  Omed  had  already  made  the  story  of 
the  cross  familiar. 

"  At  last  Mr.  Bronson  asked,  '  How  many  of 
you  love  this  Saviour,  and,  abandoning  all 
heathen  practices,  worship  him  alone  ? ' 

"  Twenty-six  arose. 

"  He  charged  them  to  examine  their  motives, 
and  reminded  them  that  their  decision  meant 
ridicule,  reproach,  opposition,  perhaps  death. 

" '  Yes,'  was  the  answer  :  '  we  have  thought  it 
all  over.  We  expect  opposition.  We  have  de- 
cided.' 

"The  three  native  assistants  —  Rangku  was 


OUR   COLD-MINE,  329 

one  of  them  —  now  testified  to  their  changed 
conduct,  and  especially  their  abandonment  of 
all  heathen  rites  and  intoxicating  drinks.  The 
last  had  cost  some  of  them  a  severe  struggle. 

"  All  were  accepted  for  baptism  after  careful 
examination. 

'"I  am  Christ's  disciple,'  said  a  mountain  Garo, 
one  of  the  first  to  leave  off  opposition  and  join 
Omed,  and  his  right-hand  man  ever  since  ;  '  but 
I  cannot  walk.  How  can  I  be  baptized  ? ' 

"  For  three  months  he  had  been  disabled  by  a 
diseased  foot. 

" '  He  can  be  brought  to  me  in  the  water,' 
said  Mr.  Bronson,  seeing  his  eagerness. 

"  When  told  this,  his  delight  was  plainly  visi- 
ble. 

"'My  heart  burns  with  desire  to  tell  my  people 
on  the  mountains  this  religion,'  he  said.  '  Only 
let  my  foot  get  well,  and  I  shall  go.' 

"The  next  Sunday  they  were  baptized,  and, 
the  same  evening,  organized  into  a  church. 

" '  And  now,'  said  Mr.  Bronson,  '  whom  of  the 
three  assistants  will  you  choose  as  your  pastor, 
to  baptize,  bury  your  dead,  and  perform  your 
marriages  ? ' 

"  Unanimously  they  chose  Omed ;   and   then 


330  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

and  there  Mr.  Bronson  ordained  him,  charging 
him  to  '  range  the  hills,  preach,  baptize,  do  the 
work  of  a  Christian  pastor,  and  be  faithful  unto 
death.' 

"  On  Thursday,  as  he  was  leaving  for  Damra, 
Omed  told  him  that  ten  others  wished  baptism. 
One  of  them  was  weeping. 

" '  You  know  that  when  my  life  was  threatened 
for  cutting  bamboos  on  the  mountain  where  the 
heathen  sacrifice,  and  I  had  to  flee  to  save  it,  I 
did  not  turn  back/  he  said  to  the  native  assist- 
ants. 

"  The  church  was  called  together,  and  the  ten 
were  received  ;  Omed  and  Mr.  Bronson  baptizing 
alternately. 

"Early  in  1867  Kandura  welcomed  Mr. 
Stoddard  and  Mr.  Comfort  to  Gowahati.  Mr. 
Stoddard  had  been  absent  ten  years.  He  went 
at  once  to  the  Garos,  making  Gowalpara  his 
headquarters. 

"  When  Mr.  Stoddard  arrived,  it  was  too  early 
to  go  among  the  hills  ;  but  his  people  came  to 
him.  So,  very  soon,  he  had  the  privilege  of 
attending  a  Garo  prayer-meeting. 

" '  O  God,'  prayed  an  old,  blind,  lame  man, 
'just  like  a  decayed,  rotten  thing,  so  am  I  before 
thee !  Save,  Lord,  or  I  perish.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  331 

"  '  Brothers/  says  a  young  Christian,  '  pray 
for  my  parents.  It  is  not  two  weeks  since  they 
decided  to  be  Christ's  disciples.  I  am  very 
glad.  How  they  opposed  me  a  few  weeks  ago  ! 
Now  the  whole  village  is  angry  with  them,  and 
threatens  to  stone  them  from  the  place  if  they  do 
not  go  back  to  devil-worship.' 

"Chejing  then  prays:  'Pity  me,  O  Lord! 
If  you  don't  save,  no  one  can.  I  have  one  leg 
in  hell  now.'  He  is  not  a  Christian,  but  wishes 
to  be. 

"Another  speaks  in  Garo.  He  has  been  a 
bitter  opposer,  and  this  is  his  first  confession  : 
'  I  have  stopped  my  fight,  and  all  the  devil-wor- 
ship with  it.  I  will  now  serve  and  obey  Christ' 

"  Before  Mr.  Stoddard  can  strike  a  tune,  Ru- 
dram  is  on  his  feet :  '  I  have  not  been  baptized  ; 
but  I  love  Christ.  I  am  a  Christian  at  all  haz- 
ards. My  parents  are  among  tigers  because 
they  have  recently  professed  Christ.' 

"  And  the  best  of  it  is,  that  the  missionaries 
know  all  this  is  sincere  ;  for  the  word,  even  of 
heathen  Garos,  can  be  trusted. 

"  On  his  first  tour,  as,  with  Mr.  Ward,  Mr. 
Stoddard  entered  Omed's  village,  he  found  young 
and  old,  male  and  female,  drawn  up  as  if  in  mili- 
tary array  to  receive  them. 


332  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  *  This  is  the  Lord's  army,'  said  Mr.  Ward. 

"  Omed  repeated  the  words. 

'"Yes,  we  are  the  Lord's  sepoys,'  came  the 
response  from  all  along  the  line. 

"  Mr.  Ward  preached  in  Assamese,  Omed  and 
Ramke  interpreting  by  turns.  Once,  as  a  line 
of  thought  was  touched  on  which  he  felt  deeply, 
Omed,  forgetting  the  missionary,  and  every  thing 
else  but  the  matter  in  hand,  spoke  on  rapidly, 
and  with  intense  earnestness,  for  half  an  hour. 
Mr.  Ward  looked  at  his  brother-missionary,  and 
smiled,  quite  willing  to  sit  down.  It  was  clear, 
from  the  absorbed  attention  of  all,  that  Omed 
was  striking  the  right  spot. 

"  There  was  no  consciousness  of  official  dig- 
nity about  Omed.  He  was  a  gentle,  sedate  man 
of  thirty-five,  heartily  loved  and  revered  by  his 
people. 

"  Mr.  Stoddard's  journal  for  the  next  year, 
during  which  he  became  acquainted  with  his 
field,  is  the  record  of  a  succession  of  'joyful 
surprises.'  The  steadfastness  of  the  disciples 
under  trial,  their  missionary  zeal,  the  frankness 
of  the  inquirers,  the  springing  up  of  new  inter- 
ests, were  a  perpetual  delight  to  him. 

"But  even  he  could  not  feel  the  peculiar  joy 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  333 

that  filled  Kandura's  heart,  as  a  little  later,  with 
Mr.  Comfort,  he  travelled  and  preached  through 
this  region. 

"After  shaking  hands  with  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  Christians,  he  turned  to  Omed 
and  Ramke,  and  said,  '  Brothers,  where  am  I  ? 
Whom  do  I  see  and  hear  around  me  ?  When 
you  two  called  on  me  at  Gowahati,  only  a  few 
years  since,  to  inquire  about  this  Christian  reli- 
gion, did  I  believe  to  live  to  see  so  great  a  fire 
of  truth  kindled  in  this  dark  land  ?  No,  never  ! 
But  it  is  of  God.  On,  my  brothers,  with  the 
torch  of  truth,  and  you  shall  see  all  Garo-land 
ere  long  in  a  blaze.' 

"By  the  close  of  1870  there  were  two  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  baptized  believers  among  the 
Garos,  organized  into  five  churches.  Since  then, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Keith,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Phillips,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Mason,  and  Miss  Keeler,  have  joined 
the  mission ;  Mr.  Phillips  has  commenced  a  new 
station  at  Tura,  one  hundred  miles  farther  into 
the  hills  than  Gowalpara ;  and  connected  with 
the  three  stations  there  are  nearly  six  hundred 
Garo  church-members,  all  of  whom  would  prob- 
ably have  been  wild  savages  but  for  the  orphan- 
asylum  at  Nowgong,  and  the  unsuccessful  tour 


334  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

of  Mr.  Bion,  and  the  resolution  of  Kandura  to 
'  hold  on  till  death '  at  Gowahati. 

"  In  1871  Mr.  Clark  persuaded  Godhula,  one  of 
his  native  assistants,  to  learn  the  Naga  language, 
and  explore  the  Naga  hills.  At  first,  neither 
man,  woman,  nor  child,  would  speak  to  him.  He 
was  taken  for  a  government  spy,  and  his  life  was 
in  danger.  Gradually  he  convinced  them  as  to 
his  real  object,  and  received  a  cordial  welcome  to 
hospitable  homes,  where  a  single  room  served 
as  cook-room,  sleeping-room,  fowl-house,  store- 
house, and  parlor,  and  to  such  delicacies  as  dried 
rotten  fish,  charred  buffalo-hides,  and  putrid  car- 
casses of  cows  and  buffaloes.  For  several  years 
he  preached,  and  a  number  professed  conversion. 
Mr.  Clark  made  .them  occasional  visits,  and  bap- 
tized. Then  came  a  year  of  conflict  between  the 
Nagas  and  the  British  troops.  Almost  an  en- 
tire exploring-party  was  massacred.  (Among  the 
Nagas,  nc;  one  is  thought  very  much  of  till  he 
has  killed  some  one.)  For  some  time,  no  white 
man  could  be  safe  among  the  hills  ;  and  there 
were  fears  even  for  Godhula.  Meanwhile  there 
came  rumors  of  defection  among  the  disciples. 
At  the  first  lifting  of  the  cloud,  Mr.  Clark,  accom- 
panied only  by  a  boy-servant,  started  for  Hai- 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  335 

mong,  a  village  on  a  hill  twenty-seven  hundred 
feet  high,  the  home  of  most  of  the  Naga  disci- 
ples. No  other  native  could  be  induced  to  go 
with  him  ;  for  government  could  promise  no  pro- 
tection. For  ten  months  he  remained  among 
them  without  seeing  a  white  face,  sharing  such 
accommodations  as  he  could  find,  obliged  to  do 
his  own  cooking  and  mending ;  but  at  the  close 
of  1876  he  was  permitted  to  rejoice  in  the  found- 
ing of  a  new  village  without  heathen  ceremonies, 
where  the  Christian  element  was  the  ruling  one, 
and  to  hear  again  the  voices  of  inquirers  and  of 
converts  testifying,  '  Much  sweeter  than  arrack 
and  all  pig-meat  is  the  new  doctrine.' 

"From  the  Kohls  and  Chata  Nagpore  peo- 
ple —  emigrants  from  Central  India,  of  whom 
there  are  thousands  in  the  Assam  tea-gardens  — 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  converts  have  been 
gathered. 

"  Among  the  Assamese  themselves  there  has 
been  little  visible  progress.  There  may  have 
been  real  progress.  Daily,  from  behind  zenana 
curtains,  eager  eyes  watch  the  coming  of  the  lady- 
missionary  ;  and  men  who  at  any  time  before  in 
the  past  ten  centuries  would  rather  have  opened 
a  grave  for  their  wives  than  a  book  now  consent 


336  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

to  their  studying  even  the  hated  Christian  books, 
if  so  they  may  learn  to  read. 

"In  1873,  Nidhi  Levi,  the  first  of  Assamese 
converts,  the  best  of  Assamese  poets,  and  one, 
at  least,  of  the  best  Assamese  preachers,  passed 
away.  A  few  months  later  Dr.  Ward  died,  and 
still  later  Mrs.  Bronson  and  Miss  Bronson  Cotes. 
The  deaths  of  these  early  laborers  bring  more 
freshly  than  ever  to  our  minds  the  marvel  that 
what  has  been  accomplished  even  in  Assam  has 
been  within  the  active  lifetime  of  a  generation 
not  yet  past." 


%$$L''m 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  TELUGUS. 

BELIEVE   I'd'  like   to   give    up,   and 
change  places  with  Ida,"  said  Katie. 

Some  weeks  had  passed  since  Ida  left ; 
but  they  had  contained  no  missionary  evening. 

" '  He  that  putteth  his  hand  to  the  plough,'  " 
Walter  quoted  :  there  was  nothing  in  his  face  to 
tell  whether  in  jest  or  in  earnest. 

"  But  there  isn't  any  thing  against  those  that 
take  their  hands  off  the  plough,  looking  back," 
said  Katie  ;  "  and  I  almost  think  I've  done  that." 

Ida's  last  word  to  Kate,  whispered  with  the 
good-by  kiss  at  the  depot,  was,  "Do  my  work, 
Katie,  and  more ; "  and  the  whistle  cut  short  the 
'explanation  Ida  meant,  and  Katie  needed. 

And  Katie  had  tried.  She  had  started  a 
missionary  sewing  and  reading  circle  among 
the  girls  before  Ida  left,  and  at  first  it  succeeded 

337 


338  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

famously :  but  now  preparation  for  a  church  fair 
called  for  all  spare  moments ;  and,  that  day,  a 
few  of  the  leading  girls  had  suggested  that  mis- 
sionary reading  was  "  not  so  interesting,  after 
all,"  and,  while  they  were  engaged  in  fancy  work, 
they  had  better  read  some  of  the  magazines  that 
would  help  them  about  it ;  and  Katie,  who  knew 
the  missionary  reading  was  interesting,  blamed 
herself  for  not  making  better  selections. 

Then  there  were  the  old  people,  and  the  sick, 
and  the  poor.  She  had  finished  four  baby-aprons 
that  Ida  left  unfinished ;  but  two  of  them  were 
laid  away  in  paper  boxes,  for  the  mothers  had  no 
bureau-drawers,  —  laid  away  to  be  cried  over 
sometimes,  but  never  to  be  worn  any  more ;  and 
the  other  two  were  already  torn  and  drabbled  in 
the  mud  until  they  were  of  the  same  color  with 
it  and  with  those  they  had  supplanted.  The  two 
most  interesting  old  ladies  had  died  too ;  and 
those  who  took  their  tenements  could  not  speak 
a  word  of  English,  nor  understand  Katie's  des- 
perate attempts  at  German. 

The  whole  work  Ida  had  left  her  seemed  like 
undertaking  to  train  a  flock  of  birds  on  the 
wing ;  for,  in  all  the  houses  she  visited,  not  a 
tenant  was  expecting  to  stay  long.  And  the 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  339 

children  grew  more  profane,  and  the  men  more 
red  in  the  face,  and  silly  in  talk  on  Saturday 
nights,  and  the  women  more  worn,  and  less  in- 
terested in  any  thing  but  their  own  complaints 
and  their  neighbors'  business.  There  were  but 
two  women  in  the  lot  that  even  seemed  to  wish 
for  any  thing  better ;  and  one  of  those  had  just 
moved  away.. 

The  sabbath-school  class  of  semi-civilized 
vagabonds  she  had  taken  was  full  as  when  Ida 
left  it,  though  half  those  in  it  had  moved  away ; 
but  the  remaining  half,  on  which  she  had 
depended  for  the  civilization  of  new-comers,  had, 
instead,  been  barbarized  by  them. 

At  last  the  one  woman  who  seemed  trying  to 
do  better,  and  whose  every  separate  child  wore 
some  garment  of  Katie's  making,  came  to  her  at 
night  to  borrow  money,  and,  when  Katie  declined 
lending,  turned  away  with  mournful  eyes,  mur- 
muring, "  So  I've  received  you  kindly  week  after 
week,  and  taken  your  tracts,  and  that's  all  I  get 
for  it,"  and  wended  her  way  to  the  nearest  grog- 
gery. 

And  that,  or  rather  all  this,  was  why  she 
wished  she  could  change  places  with  Ida, 

"  One  thing  I  am  sure,"  she  said :  "  the  mis- 


34°  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

sionaries  don't  have  to  spend  their  lives  in  drag- 
ging their  work  by  a  long  zigzag  way  forward, 
and  then  see  things  take  a  bee-line  back  where 
they  were  before." 

'"The  work  is  one,  you  will  find,"  said  Mrs. 
Bancroft.  "To-night,  leaving  Assam  on  the 
north,  and  starting  at  the  head  of  the  Bay  of 
Bengal,  we  will  sail  south-west,  past'  Calcutta  and 
Serampore,  past  Orissa,  till  we  reach  the  point 
where  the  coast  runs  almost  due  south.  Land- 
ing here,  we  find  ourselves  among  a  people  as 
manly,  independent,  and  truthful,  at  least,  as  any 
of  the  new  acquaintances  we  have  made,  and  so 
energetic,  persevering,  and  inquisitive,  that  they 
have  gained  the  name  of  '  the  Yankees  of  India.' 
Their  country  stretches  seven  hundred  miles 
along  the  coast,  and  forms  a  semicircle,  which  at 
its  widest  point  reaches  three  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  inward;  but  detached  companies  of  them 
may  be  found  all  over  Southern  India. 

"  In  1836  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Day,  the  first  mission- 
aries sent  them  by  the  Missionary  Union, 
arrived.  Mr.  Abbot  sailed  with  them,  destined 
for  the  same  field,  but  was  turned  aside  by  the 
pressing  claims  of  the  Karens. 

"  In  a  healthful  climate,  with   no  opposition 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  341 

from  government,  a  beautiful  language  before 
them,  sixteen  million  interesting  heathen  around 
them,  and  the  glorious  news  of  God's  beginnings 
among  the  Karens  reaching  them  by  every  mail, 
no  wonder  they  commenced  the  mission  hope- 
fully. 

"  After  Vizagapatam,  Cicacole,  and  Madras  had 
been  tried,  each  for  a  short  time,  in  1840  we  find 
them  at  Nellore.  But  change  of  time  and  place 
had  had  little  effect  on  the  Brahman  gods.  The 
congregations  of  from  twenty-five  to  a  hundred 
that  gathered  in  the  streets  of  Nellore  met  Mr. 
Day  with  the  same  objections,  and  dispersed  to 
listen  to  the  same  lies,  that  assailed  Carey  in 
Bengal  forty  years  before. 

" '  This  is  the  Kali  Yoga ;  we  cannot  be  good  in 
it ; '  '  Your  religion  is  good  for  you,  and  ours  for 
us  ; '  '  We  must  live  according  to  the  rules  of 
our  caste  ;  I  am  a  Brahman,  and  cannot  work  ; 
if  I  become  a  Christian,  I  shall  starve  ; '  '  When 
all  the  Brahman  and  great  caste  people  believe, 
we  will  ; '  '  Show  me  your  God,  and  I  will 
believe ; '  '  If  this  religion  is  true,  why  have  we 
never  heard  of  it  before  ? '  —  came  from  the  people 
in  answer  to  his  most  earnest  appeals. 

" '  He  will  seize  the  lads  sent  to  his  school, 


342  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

bind  them,  cram  some  of  his  food  down  their 
throats,  and  so  break  their  caste  ; '  '  He  sprinkles 
a  kind  of  powder  in  people's  eyes,  that,  makes 
them  obey  him;'  'He  means  to  send  the  chil- 
dren to  some  foreign  country,'  —  was  the  reward 
fame  gave  to  his  most  generous  efforts.  Often, 
just  as  a  congregation  of  eager,  attentive  listen- 
ers was  gathered,  some  blustering  Brahman 
would  come  in,  raise  an  excitement,  and  trans- 
form them  into  a  reviling  mob.  Once,  while 
preaching  at  a  festival,  harder  weapons  than 
words  were  used  ;  and  Mr.  Day  was  severely 
beaten,  driven  back  through  a  narrow  street,  and 
barely  escaped  being  trampled  to  death.  Of 
course  the  assault  was  led  by  Brahmans. 

"  In  March,  1840,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Van  Husen  ar- 
rived. In  July  there  came  to  Nellore  a  Telugu 
from  a  distant  part  of  the  country,  for  three 
years  a  believer :  in  September  he  was  baptized. 
Two  Tamils  and  an  Eurasian  had  been  baptized 
before.  In  October,  1 844,  a  church  of  eight  mem- 
bers, four  of  them  missionaries,  was  organized 
at  Nellore.  Early  the  next  year  Mr.  Van  Husen, 
and  a  year  later  Mr.  Day,  left  for  America.  Mr. 
Van  Husen  never  returned. 

"  After  ten  years  of  hard  work,  the  Telugu  mis- 


OUK  GOLD-MINE.  343 

sion,  in  1847,  consisted  of  two  disabled  mission- 
aries, with  their  wives  in  America,  one  Telugu 
convert,  and  three  or  four  Tamils  and  Eurasians 
in  India.  Meanwhile  Mr.  Abbot,  who  was  to 
have  been  Mr.  Day's  companion,  from  Sandoway 
was  reaching  out  hands  into  regions  where  no 
missionary  foot  might  tread,  drawing  in  con- 
verts by  the  thousand,  groaning  over  the  harvest 
ripening  without  harvesters,  and  at  last,  broken 
down  by  the  weight  of  the  sheaves,  had  returned 
to  America,  and  was  pleading  for  money  and 
men,  not  to  sow  barren  soil,  but  to  gather  ripened 
fruit.  We  can  hardly  wonder  to  find  the  aban- 
donment of  the  Telugu  mission  a  subject  of 
earnest  discussion. 

"  The  committee  discussed,  and  threw  the 
responsibility  upon  the  Board  ;  the  Board  dis- 
cussed, and  threw  the  responsibility  upon  the 
people.  The  people  never  kill  a  mission  by  a 
process  more  merciful  than  slow  starvation:  so 
in  1848  we  find  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Day  returning,  ac- 
companied by  a  new  missionary,  Mr.  Jewett. 
During  the  voyage,  their  labors  led  to  the  con- 
version of  the  captain  and  one  sailor ;  and,  when 
they  reached  shore,  many  others  were  thought- 
ful. 


344  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"Two  years  passed,  marked  only  by  the  slow 
failure  of  Mr.  Day's  health  and  the  frequent  ill- 
ness of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jewett. 

"But  it  could  not  be  that  the  fifty  thousand 
who  had  listened,  at  least  once,  to  Christian 
preaching  during  the  year,  were  quite  the  same 
as  before.  The  missionaries  knew  it  could  not, 
and  were  hardly  surprised,  as  the  assistants 
James  and  Nersu  returned  from  their  village 
preaching,  to  hear  in  one  place  of  several  who 
were  'almost  Christians/  and  in  another  of  a 
whole  village  which  had  abandoned  idol-worship, 
and  defended  Christianity,  though  it  did  not 
practically  accept  it. 

"  The  next  year,  Luchama,  wife  of  the  Telugu 
baptized  by  Mr.  Day  in  1 840,  after  being  for  ten 
years  a  violent  opposer,  was  converted,  laid 
aside  her  ornaments,  and  united  with  the  church. 
A  little  later  we  find  her,  with  Julia,  a  boarding- 
scholar  converted  the  year  before,  in  a  tent 
pitched  by  the  wayside,  aiding  Mrs.  Jewett  in 
teaching  Christ  to  the  women  who  came  to 
Nellore  at  the  great  festival.  Soon  after  Julia 
was  baptized,  and  one  other,  —  three  in  four 
years. 

"In  1853,  when  the  failure  of  Mr.  Day's  health 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  345 

again  compelled  him  to  leave,  we  find  the  aban- 
donment of  the  mission  again  under  discussion. 

"  The  next  year  one  of  the  assistants  proved  an 
apostate ;  and  two  years  later,  the  other,  Chris- 
tian Nersu,  died.  Mr.  Day  never  returned  ;  but 
in  1854  Mr,  and  Mrs.  Douglass  sailed  to  re- 
enforce  the  mission. 

"  By  1857  the  church  numbered  twelve.  Then 
came  the  great  mutiny.  Nellore  was  guarded 
only  by  three  hundred  invalid  sepoys,  whose 
captain  said  he  could  afford  the  missionaries  no 
protection  in  case  of  attack.  Mr.  Douglass  was 
already  in  Madras :  Mr.  Jewett  went  there  for  a 
few  months.  There  was  but  one  baptism  that 
year. 

"  The  next  was  a  year  of  sunshine. 

"  First  two  women  —  Lydia,  and  Elizabeth, 
wife  of  Christian  Nersu  —  applied  for  admission 
to  the  church. 

" '  This  is  all  deception,'  said  a  Mohammedan, 
witnessing  their  baptism. 

" '  I  felt  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  coming 
down  upon  us,'  said  one  of  the  sisters  in  the 
church. 

" '  I  trembled  exceedingly,'  said  another,  not  a 
Christian. 


346  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  Soon  six  others  were  baptized. 

"  '  My  heart  overflows  with  joy,'  said  the  woman 
who  '  trembled  exceedingly,'  herself  one  of  the 
number. 

" '  They  will  soon  come  in  crowds,'  said  Poly- 
appa,  father  of  one  of  the  six,  a  youth  from  the 
normal  school ;  and  soon  he  helped  fulfil  the 
prophecy  by  coming  himself. 

"  Thirteen  in  all  were  baptized,  nearly  all  of 
them  from  families  connected  with  the  school. 
It  does  not  seem  like  a  great  work  as  we  look 
back  upon  it ;  but  it  did  to  the  missionaries  then, 
and  I  think  they  judged  rightly.  • 

"  In  1859  came  a  terrible  visitation  of  cholera. 
Victims  were  found  in  the  boarding-school  and 
among  the  young  converts. 

"  Often  there  was  but  a  few  hours'  interval 
between  perfect  health  and  death.  But  it  was 
hard  to  mourn  for  those  who  were  so  glad. 

"  '  I  am  going  to  my  Father,'  said  the  woman 
who  '  trembled  exceedingly '  when  she  stood  for 
the  first  time  by  the  waters  of  baptism,  now 
fearlessly  entering  the  river  of  death  ;  and,  turn- 
ing to  her  husband,  she  asked  the  question  no 
heathen  can  answer,  '  Where  are  you  going  ? ' 

" '  O  my  Father,  receive  me  now ! '  said  an- 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  347 

other,  the  first  pupil  in  the  boarding-school,  and 
a  convert  of  the  revival  of  1858.  'I  am  ready. 
No  fear,  though  a  worm,  and  nothing.  Come, 
take  me  now.  Hast  thou  not  said,  He  that  seeks 
thee  finds  thee  ?  Yes,  Lord,  I  come.' 

" '  Why  weep  ? '  he  said  to  those  around  him. 
'  I  now  enter  heaven  with  great  joy.  Does  not 
our  Father  want  many  to  serve  him  above  ?  I 
see  the  hosts  of  God.  Don't  you  see  them  ? 
O  glorious  city,  how  numerous  are  thy  gates ! 
Thanks  be  to  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory  ! ' 

"  Ruth,  baptized  from  the  boarding-school  just 
before  Mr.  Day  left,  and  now  wife  of  Ezra,  one 
of  the  most  efficient  native  preachers,  had  been 
for  eight  years  a  consistent  member  of  the 
church.  In  1861  she  became,  for  a  little  time, 
a  member  of  Mr.  Douglass's  family. 

"  One  morning,  while  the  family  were  at  the 
table,  she  began  to  tremble  and  weep  as  though 
her  heart  would  break. 

"  '"No  one  knows  the  cause  of  my  grief,'  she 
said  as  she  arose  and  left. 

"  Through  the  afternoon  she  avoided  answer- 
ing questions ;  but  about  one  at  night  she  came 
to  the  room  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Douglass,  asking 
them  to  pray  for  her. 


348  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  '  It  was  soon  evident,'  says  Mr.  Douglass, 
'  that  we  had  more  need  of  her  prayers  than  she 
of  ours.  Such  a  scene  we  had  never  thought  it 
would  be  our  privilege  to  witness.  There  was 
no  more  sleep.  We  had  come  to  the  gate  of 
heaven.' 

" '  Truly,'  said  Mrs.  Douglass,  '  this  is  enter- 
taining an  angel  unawares.' 

"  The  next  day,  with  a  heavenly  smile  on  her 
face,  she  went  from  room  to  room,  from  person 
to  person,  telling  of  the  preciousness  of  Christ. 

"  For  more  than  ten  days  this  lasted,  and  the 
mission-house  seemed  the  dwelling-place  of  God. 
The  days  were  filled  with  work,  and  the  nights 
with  praise. 

" '  My  child  is  mad ;  she  is  possessed  of  a 
devil,'  said  her  poor  old  heathen  mother  in 
agony. 

"  But  it  was  no  madness.  When  the  intense 
excitement  was  over,  she  settled  down  into  one 
of  the  most  earnest  and  happy  of  Christians. 
Her  joyful  experience  was  itself  the  fruit  of 
weeks  of  earnest  prayer,  and  within  a  few  days 
bore  fruit  in  the  conversion  of  two.  One  of 
them,  to  the  wonder  of  the  world,  was  her  own 
mother. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  349 

"  The  next  year,  two  others  were  baptized  ; 
the  next,  four,  one  of  them  a  brother  of  Ruth  ; 
then  four  more  came,  and  then  five.  The  dew 
fell  very  gently  ;  but  the  years  of  absolute  dearth 
were  over. 

"About  seventy-five  miles  from  Nellore  lies 
Ongole,  with  a  population  of  ten  thousand.  The 
missionaries  had  several  times  visited  it,  and 
awakened  inquiries  and  an  appetite  for  tracts 
and  books  among  its  people.  One  evening  in 
1854,  after  trying  all  day  to  gain  a  hearing  in  the 
city,  and  gaining  only  abuse  and  stones,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Jewett  and  Nersu  stopped  on  a  hill  over- 
looking the  place,  looked  down  upon  its  hundred 
temples,  sang  hymns  of  praise,  and  prayed  God 
that  he  would  send  a  missionary  to  Ongole,  that 
souls  might  be  saved  there,  and  heathenism  die. 

"In  1860  it  came  at  the  same  time  into  his 
heart  and  Mrs.  Jewett's  to  go  there  again.  They 
resolved  to  do  it,  trusting  in  God  for  means  to 
meet  the  expense.  Just  then  a  friend  came 
forward  with  two  hundred  dollars  for  'extra 
expenses.'  They  went,  and  brought  back  with 
them  to  Nellore  Obalu,  a  young  man,  the  head 
of  a  family,  a  convert  asking  for  baptism.  He 
was  baptized,  and  returned  to  Ongole. 


350  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  In  1862  Mr.  Jewett,  on  his  return  to  America, 
found  the  friends  of  missions  again  discussing 
the  usual  panacea  for  financial  embarrassment,  — 
the  abandonment  of  the  Telugu  mission.  The 
urgency  of  the  case  was  stated  to  Mr.  Jewett. 

" '  The  Union  may  abandon  the  field,'  he  re- 
plied ;  '  but  7  will  bear  no  part  in  the  fearful 
responsibility.  If  encouragement  and  aid  are 
refused  me  by  the  Union,  then  I  will  return 
alone,  and  spend  my  remaining  strength  and  days 
among  the  Telugus.' 

"  '  Well,  brother,  if  you  are  resolved  to  return, 
we  must  send  somebody  with  you  to  bury  you ; 
you  certainly  ought  to  have  a  Christian  burial 
in  that  heathen  land,'  said  the  secretary  with  a 
smile. 

"  In  April,  1865,  the  prayer  of  the  little  band 
that  met  on  '  Prayer-meeting  Hill,'  never  dream- 
ing they  were  giving  name  to  the  place,  began 
to  be  answered.  Mr.  Clough,  the  'missionary 
for  Ongole,'  arrived  with  Dr.  Jewett  at  Nellore. 
Mr.  Douglass  had  been  sick  for  months,  and  left 
immediately. 

"  Early  the  next  year,  Mr.  Jewett  and  Mr. 
Clough  visited  Ongole.  A  while  later,  in  Tala 
Kanda  Pond,  forty  miles  distant,  just  as  he  was 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  35! 

sitting  down  to  eat,  a  leather-dresser  heard  the 
news  that  a  missionary  had  come  to  Ongole. 
The  food  remained  untasted.  Four  years  before, 
while  away  from  home,  he  heard  two  of  the  na- 
tive converts  talking  about  religion.  He  hardly 
noticed  what  they  said  at  the  time  ;  but  as  he 
walked  home  their  words  came  to  him  again,  and, 
as  he  afterwards  said,  '  the  Lord  enlightened  his 
mind.' 

" '  I  am  resolved  to  give  up  idols/  he  told  his 
wife  and  neighbors. 

" '  Then  Polarana  and  Maluchma  will  send 
cholera  and  small-pox  among  us  ;  you  are  mad,' 
was  their  answer  ;  and,  for  the  months  that  fol- 
lowed, he  was  treated  very  much  as  if  he  had 
been  a  walking  embodiment  of  both  diseases. 

"  '  If  you  cannot  let  me  have  the  Christian  re- 
ligion here,  I  shall  go  away,  and  not  return,'  he 
said  at  last. 

" '  What  is  the  Christian  religion  ? '  asked  his 
wife. 

"  He  told  her  what  little  he  knew.  It  was  very 
little,  but  enough  to  make  her  long  to  know 
more.  And  now  they  came  together  to  Ongole  as 
inquirers.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Jewett  baptized  them. 

"  The  next  year  we  see  Mr.  Clough  on  his  pony, 


352 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


and  Mrs.  Clough  in  her  palanquin,  the  monotony 
of  the  journey  varied  only  by  the  steady  '  Ho,  ho, 
hum '  of  the  bearers,  or  an  occasional  extempore 
song  from  them  on  the  supposed  merits  of  Mrs. 
Clough  and  her  little  boy,  placing  seventy-five 
miles  between  themselves  and  all  Christian  soci- 
ety, except  what  they  brought  with  them.  No, 


PALANQUIN-TRAVELLING. 

not  quite  all ;  for  at  the  door  of  the  bungalow, 
running  toward  them,  panting,  laughing,  capering 
like  a  little  boy  for  joy,  was  Obalu.  He  soon 
left,  and  returned  with  hot  water  and  sheep's 
milk :  so,  with  coffee,  and  some  mouldy  bread 
brought  from  Nellore,  they  made  their  first  break- 
fast at  Ongole. 

" '  We  thought  it  very  good,'  he  writes.     '  We 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  353 

are  very  happy  here ;  do  not  care  to  be  any  hap- 
pier. True,  we  want  money ;  but  the  Lord  will 
send  that.' 

"Very  soon  two  native  preachers,  in  the  midst 
of  hard  words,  and  sometimes  hard  stones,  were 
offering  the  gospel  to  the  citizens  of  Ongole. 
Every  morning  and  evening  there  was  preaching 
in  some  one  of  the  villages  around  ;  while,  three 
times  a  week,  Mrs.  Clough  and  Ruth  went  out 
together  to  talk  on  religious  subjects  with  the 
villagers. 

"  On  one  of  his  first  tours,  about  twenty  years 
before,  as  Mr.  Jewett  with  Nersu  approached  a 
village,  a  man  came  out  and  begged  him  to  come 
with  him.  Following  through  mud  and  water, 
he  reached  a  cluster  of  sixty  mud  houses,  scarce- 
ly distinguishable  from  the  earth  around  them, 
where  a  congregation  soon  gathered  together. 

"  '  Who  made  all  these  things  ? '  he  asked,  after 
telling  them  of  the  fields  of  rice,  the  flocks,  the 
men,  the  mountains,  he  had  seen  on  his  way. 
'  Did  idols  ? ' 

" '  No,  God  made  them,'  was  the  answer. 

" '  If  your  child,'  said  Nersu, '  should  turn  away 
from  you  to  some  other  man,  and  say,  "  You  are 
my  father,"  would  you  not  be  displeased  ? ' 


354  °UR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  Yes.' 

" '  That  you  have  done  to  God.' 

" '  Tell  us  the  parable  of  the  vineyard,'  said  the 
guide,  who  had  once  visited  the  station  at  Nel- 
lore. 

"  He  explained  it,  and  that  of  the  sower. 
Night  came  on,  and  he  left. 

"These  were  the  pariahs,  by  the  Brahmans 
falsely  called  ' outcast '  or  'no  caste '  people. 
Among  the  Telugus  they  are  divided  into  '  Ma- 
las/  who  work  as  coolies,  servants,  woodcutters, 
&c.,  and  '  Mardagas/  who  are  usually  drummers, 
leather-dressers,  cobblers,  or  something  of  the 
sort.  Together  they  make  one-tenth  of  the  en- 
tire population.  Their  villages,  numbering  some- 
times three  or  four  thousand  inhabitants,  lay 
scattered  all  around.  Often  after  that  the  gospel 
was  preached  in  them.  It  was  from  one  of 
them  that  the  convert  at  Tala  Konda  Pond  came. 

"  Presently  from  his  region  came  the  report 
that  so  often  played  the  part  of  mirage  on  the 
missionary  desert,  — '  a  large  number  of  inquirers 
and  remarkable  interest.'  But  the  man  who  was 
so  overjoyed  he  could  not  eat  at  the  thought  of 
having  a  missionary  within  forty  miles  of  him 
had  made  the  best  use  of  his  rare  privileges,  and 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  355 

came  often  to  Ongole ;  and  he  confirmed  the  re- 
port. 

"On  the  1st  of  January,  1867,  a  church  of 
eight  members  was  formed  at  Ongole. 

"  On  the  day  the  week  of  prayer  closed,  Mr. 
Clough  and  his  assistant  started  for  Tala  Konda 
Pond.  Three  nights'  travel  by  bullock-cart, 
with  day-preaching  in  the  intervening  villages, 
brought  them  there.  Stopping  in  a  tamarind- 
grove,  he  sent  word  to  the  villagers  that  he  had 
come  to  tell  them  of  Jesus.  The  next  day 
between  thirty  and  forty  men  and  women  came, 
bringing  each  provision  for  four  or  five  days, 
and  an  extra  change  of  clothing. 

" '  We  have  come  to  learn  more  about  Jesus,' 
they  said ;  '  but  we  already  believe  in  him,  and 
want  to  be  baptized.' 

"  Then  came  five  days  of  preaching,  Scripture- 
reading,  prayer,  and  singing,  never  to  be  forgot- 
ten. The  simple  reading  of  the  last  two  chap- 
ters of  Matthew,  or  the  remark,  '  Christ  died  on 
the  cross  for  our  sins,'  would  affect  the- whole 
audience  to  tears. 

" '  I  have  seen  many  revivals  at  home,'  said 
Mr.  Clough,  '  and  witnessed  many  precious  out- 
pourings of  the  Holy  Spirit :  but  I  never  saw 


356  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

such  a  blessed  time  as  this;  never  saw  such 
faith,  and  such  love  for  Jesus  the  Saviour.' 

"  At  the  close,  twenty-eight  were  baptized. 

'•'  The  converts  were  from  six  villages,  distant 
from  twenty-five  to  fifty-five  miles  from  Ongole. 
Returning  to  their  homes,  they  met  no  pleasant 
welcome.  A  guard  was  placed  at  the  entrance 
of  their  streets,  forbidding  them  to  pass  either 
way.  Water  from  the  public  wells  was  denied 
them  ;  and,  when  disease  appeared  among  the 
cattle,  the  Christians  were  accused  of  poisoning 
them,  and  taken  before  the  magistrate.  Mr. 
Clough  stated  the  facts,  the  complaints  were  dis- 
missed, and  for  a  while  the  disciples  had  peace. 

"  Every  thing  was  now  put  in  the  closest 
working-order.  An  earnest  appeal  for  more 
missionaries  was  sent  to  America.  Each  village 
where  there  were  converts  was  directed  to  send 
one  or  two  men  to  Ongole  immediately  after 
harvest,  who  should  return  and  teach  the  rest. 
One  native  assistant  was  appointed  to  give  his 
whole  time  to  preaching  in  the  villages  ;  while 
Mr.  Clough  was  busy  by  day,  and  often  at  night 
too,  in  receiving  inquirers,  and  searching  out 
hearers  at  Ongole,  superintending  the  building 
of  a  chapel,  and  visiting  the  villages  around. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  357 

"  A  little  later,  seven  young  men  from  six  vil- 
lages were  gathered  at  the  mission-house  for 
instruction.  Before  the  year  closed,  the  Ongole 
church  had  grown  from  eight  to  seventy-five. 

"  Meanwhile,  though  to  cholera  were  added  fam- 
ine and  small-pox,  the-  work  went  on  at  Nellore. 
Eleven  were  baptized  in  1865,  thirteen  the  next 
year ;  and  the  next,  startled  apparently  by  the 
thought  that  the  founding  of  the  station  at  On- 
gole and  the  death  of  the  ablest  assistant  had 
thrown  the  whole  burden  on  Mr.  Jewett  and  the 
little  church,  almost  every  member  organized 
himself  into  a  private  missionary  society,  and 
the  result  was  thirty-three  baptisms  and  three 
new  out-stations. 

"  No  human  pen  can  describe  the  years  that 
have  followed, — years  every  day  of  which  is  a 
date  in  the  record-book  of  heaven.  The  dying 
saint  had  given  his  rupee  ;  poor  blind  Lydia,  her 
four  annas  ;  the  first  Kala  Konda  Pond  convert, 
his  two  chickens  ;  the  children,  their  egg-money; 
the  poorest,  something,  till  a  spacious  stone  chap- 
el was  complete  at  Ongole.  In  the  villages  the 
demand  for  teachers  and  preachers  was  incessant. 
It  seemed  hardly  right  to  make  teachers  of  men 
who  could  only  spell  out  words,  and  preachers  of 


358  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

those  who  could  do  hardly  more  than  say,  '  Be- 
lieve on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved.'  Many  an  educated  American  pastor 
would  shrink  back  if  duty  called  him  to  preach 
to  an  audience  of  sceptics,  and  courtesy  allowed 
them  to  ask  all  the  questions  they  thought  dur- 
ing the  sermon  ;  yet  to  a  work  like  this  these 
ignorant  but  warm-hearted  disciples  were  sent. 

"  No  one  felt  the  disadvantages  of  this  course 
more  keenly  than  the  missionaries ;  but  it  was  the 
best  that  could  be  done,  and  God  blessed  it.  I 
wish  we  could  follow  these  preachers,  and  watch 
the  growth  of  gospel-fruit  in  each  village.  We 
can  only  glance  here  and  there  at  the  work,  and 
then  leave  it. 

"  Here  in  Markapoor,  eighty  miles  west  of  On- 
gole,  the  whole  body  of  disciples  had  been  seized, 
and  sent  to  jail.  They  were  whipped,  fined 
three  rupees  each,  and  sent  to  work  on  the 
grounds  around  a  Vishnu  temple.  One  only  es- 
caped to  tell  the  missionary. 

" '  Tell  them,'  he  said, '  to  bear  it  all  patiently : 
when  they  go  to  work  on  the  grounds,  sing; 
when  they  go  back  to  the  prison,  pray.' 

"  The  message  reached  them-,  and  prayer  be- 
gan. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  359 

" '  That  must  be  stopped,'  said,  the  Tasildar. 
'  Order  them  to  work  on  the  temple.' 
"  They  were  marched  out,  singing,  — 

'  Pahpamoo  dhulootsoo  sume  ; 
Puschathapamu  kazoo  sume.' 

'Think  of  your  sins,  and  pray  for  repentance; 
Fall  at  the  feet  of  the  invisible  Jesus.' 

" '  That  must  be  stopped,'  said  the  officer ;  and 
they  were  returned  to  the  jail. 

"  At  once  they  began  to  pray. 

" '  Stop  that ! '  came  the  order. 

"  '  We  cannot.     The  teacher  told  us  to  pray.' 

"  Again  and  again  they  were  sent  from  jail  to 
temple,  and  back ;  till  at  last  the  Tasildar,  wea- 
ried either  by  their  singing  or  the  less  musical 
voice  of  his  own  conscience,  gave  the  order  for 
their  release. 

" '  But  we  cannot  go,'  they  said.  '  We  have 
been  fined  and  imprisoned  unjustly.  We  cannot 
go  out  like  criminals.' 

" '  How  will  you  go  ? ' 

"  '  Let  them  give  us  the  three  rupees  each  we 
have  been  fined,  and  rice  for  seven  days  ;  then 
we  will  go.' 


360  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  The  money  was  actually  paid,  the  rice  given, 
and  the  men  went  out  triumphant,  singing, — 

'  Pahpamoo  dhulootsoo  sume.' 

"  A  dozen  telegraph-wires  could  not  have  car- 
ried the  news  faster  than  it  flew  through  that 
densely-settled  country.  Before  six  months  had 
passed,  Mr.  Clough  baptized  one  hundred  and 
thirty  within  three-quarters  of  a  mile  of  the  jail ; 
and  now,  within  twenty  miles  of  it,  there  are 
more  than  twelve  hundred  believers. 

"Next  we  find  Mr.  Clough  making  a  tour 
through  these  villages. 

"At  one  time,  just  before  midnight,  he  hears 
a  noise  like  the  running  of  a  flock  of  buffaloes. 
He  is  just  ready  to  lead  his  pony  aside,  and 
let  the  buffaloes  pass,  when,  instead,  he  finds 
twenty  or  thirty  men,  all  believers,  gathering 
together  to  welcome  him.  Everywhere,  whether 
in  large  towns,  or  hamlets  whose  name  even  he 
had  not  heard,  he  finds  brethren  or  inquirers. 

"And  here  at  Garnegapeuta  is  a  Christian  vil- 
lage, with  white  houses,  clean  streets,  and  a  neat 
schoolhouse  built  by  the  villagers. 

/"In  all  heathen  India,  even  among  the  Brah- 
mans,  you  will  find  nothing  to  compare  with  it,' 
he  says  to  the  bystanders. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE. 


361 


"  Only  one  mud  house  remained  neglected, 
and  not  whitewashed.  It  was  the  idol-house  of 
the  god  Ramasawmy. 


let 


' '  \Yhy  does  it  remain  in  this  Christian  ham- 
? '  asks  the  missionary. 


362  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  If  we  pull  it  down,  the  heathen  will  be  very 
angry.' 

"'Let .me  do  it,  then.' 

"  In  a  minute  a  crowbar  was  put  into  his  hands. 
After  the  first  blow,  helpers  were  plenty.  In  a 
few  moments  the  house  was  a  heap  of  rubbish. 
Two  large  slimy  toads  hopped  out. 

" '  See  Ramaswamy  and  his  wife  ! '  said  one 
of  the  company  in  comic  irony.  '  Pretty  gods, 
indeed !  Let  the  heathen  worship  you  :  we  don't 
want  to.' 

"  And  the  toads  were  sent  back  among  the 
rubbish. 

"  In  the  years  that  follow,  we  see  him,  now 
conducting  alone  a  ministers'  institute,  with  fif- 
teen or  twenty  native  preachers  noting  carefully 
every  lecture  as  material  for  their  sermons  in 
time  to  come,  for  plagiarism  is  not  yet  a  crime  in 
Telugu  preachers  ;  now  in  some  pariah  village, 
carrying  on  the  'desperate,  hand-to-hand  con- 
test with  superstition,  pride,  prejudice,  igno- 
rance, drunkenness,  lust,  deceit,  cunning,  and 
every  imaginable  machination  of  the  Devil;'  now, 
alone  at  night,  reasoning  with  some  Nicodemus 
who  '  believes,  but  dares  not  openly  confess  ; '  now 
galloping  away  from  a  crowd  of  heathen,  the  only 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  363 

way  to  stop  entreaties  for  a  teacher  that  he  can- 
not grant  ;  now  making  a  long  tour,  baptizing 
three  hundred  and  twenty-four  before  he  returns. 

"  The  first  day  of  the  week  of  prayer  in 
Ongole  was  given  to  supplication  for  five  hun- 
dred converts.  The  close  of  the  year  found  five 
hundred  and  seventy-three  baptisms. 

"  Converts  multiplied  around  Nellore  too ;  and 
the  spirit  of  inquiry  among  the  heathen,  and 
earnestness  among  Christians,  grew,  until  every 
Sunday  afternoon,  instead  of  holding  meetings, 
the  converts  went  out,  visiting  from  house  to 
house  through  the  streets,  or  in  the  villages  ; 
and  the  covenant  meetings  were  changed  from 
records  of  Christian  experience  to  reports  of 
Christian  work. 

"The  Timpanys  arrived  in  1868  ;  in  1870,  the 
M'Laurins  and  Mr.  Bullard.  The  same  year 
Mr.  Timpany  and  his  wife  took  up  their  abode 
in  Ramapatam,  a  town  of  four  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, a  little  more  than  half  way  from  Nellore  to 
Ongole.  Ezra  and  Ruth  had  gone  there  some 
months  before  to  prepare  the  way. 

"  Fourteen  years  before,  Mr.  Jewett  and  Chris- 
tian Nersu  preached  there,  and  were  delighted 
with  their  attentive  audiences. 


364  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  Perhaps,'  said  Mr.  Jewett,  '  they  may  be  of 
the  Lord's  elect.' 

" '  Yes,'  answered  Nersu.  '  I  was  thinking  in 
my  mind,  "  Who  are  the  elect  ? "  Are  not  these 
who  give  such  heed  to  the  word  of  God  ? ' 

"  Ten  years  later,  after  passing  through  it,  Mr. 
Clough  wrote,  '  Above  every  thing  else  in  India, 
except  the  blessing  of  God,  I  would  like  to  see 
these  two  places '  (Ramapatam  and  Allur)  'occu- 
pied by  at  least  two  of  our  missionaries.' 

"  Here  Mr.  Timpany  started  a  school  under 
a  banian-tree,  with  sand  for  slates  and  black- 
boards, and  forefingers  for  pencils.  A  little 
later,  looking  out  upon  the  absolute  darkness, 
he  wrote,  '  I  sometimes  cry  like  the  prophet  in 
answer  to  the  question,  "  Son  of  man,  can  these 
dry  bones  live  ? "  "  O  Lord  God !  thou  knowest," 
my  doubt  going  into  my  cry.' 

"  But  before  a  year  had  passed  he  was  able  to 
report,  '  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  constant  re- 
vival.' 

"At  the  close  of  1871  there  were  two  hundred 
and  sixty-seven  church-members  connected  with 
Rampatam.  -The  next  year,  in  a  single  tour  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Cumbaldiny,  one  hundred 
were  baptized,  and  the  membership  grew  to  four 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  365 

hundred  and  twenty;  and  by  the  next  it  was 
impossible  to  go  out  in  any  direction  without 
finding  Christians  in  every  two  or  three  miles, 
while  among  the  Mardagas  scarcely  an  avowed 
heathen  remained. 

"  In  1872  Mr.  Clough  left  for  America.  A  few 
evenings  before  his  departure,  five  hundred  rep- 
resentatives from  the  villages  under  his  care 
gathered  together  for  last  words.  Hours  passed 
by,  as  hours  will  at  such  times,  and  half-past 
eleven  came.  The  very  last  words  must  be 
spoken. 

"Their  courage  failed.  'Don't  leave  us!' 
'.Stay  with  us!'  'Don't  go  to  America!'  burst 
from  pleading  lips,  perhaps  then,  for  the  first 
time,  realizing  their  loss. 

"  Others  caught  up  the  words ;  and  from  the 
crowd  of  eager  petitioners,  clasping  his  feet, 
pressing  upon  every  side,  came  the  same  mes- 
sage, '  Don't  go  from  us ! ' 

" '  See  here,'  said  the  missionary,  turning  to 
one  :  '  do  you  remember,  when  I  was  at  your  vil- 
lage, that  you  asked  me  to  come  again  soon,  and 
I  told  you  that  I  could  not ;  that  I  had  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety  villages  to  visit  before  I  could 
see  you  again  ? ' 


" '  Yes,  yes ! ' 


366  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  '  And  do  you  remember  that  you  begged  me 
to  send  you  a  native  preacher,  and  I  told  you  I 
could  not,  for  we  had  but  eighteen,  and  they,  too, 
must  be  scattered  through  all  these  hundred 
and  ninety  villages  ? ' 

" '  Yes,  yes ! ' 

" '  And,  that  finally,  when  you  followed  me  out 
of  the  village,  begging  me  to  come,  or  send  a 
preacher  or  teacher,  I  could  do  nothing  but  shut 
out  your  prayers,  and  gallop  away  ? ' 

"'Yes.' 

"  '  And  was  it  so  in  your  village  ? '  turning  to 
another. 

" '  Yes.' 

"  <  And  yours  ? ' 

" '  Yes.' 

"  Memory  had  been  only,  too  faithful  in  recall- 
ing those  scenes  during  the  hours  just  past. 

" '  And  now  you  know  that  I  am  worn  out  with 
work ;  that,  unless  I  can  rest,  I  shall  soon  not  be 
able  to  visit  you  at  all.  You  know,  too,  that  we 
must  have  four  new  missionaries,  and  a  theo- 
logical seminary  to  train  native  preachers,  who 
can  stay  with  you  all  the  time  ;  and  I  must  go 
to  America  to  get  the  men  and  the  money  for 
the  seminary.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  367 

"  The  petition  changed. 

" '  Go  quick,  and  come  quick ;  go  quick,  and 
come  quick ! ' 

"  '  When  I  am  gone,  will  you  pray  every  day 
that  God  will  restore  my  health  and  Mrs. 
dough's,  and  that  he  will  send  the  four  men, 
and  the  money  for  the  seminary  ? ' 

"'We  will.' 

"  So  they  parted,  and  the  promise  was  well 
kept.  Every  day  the  Christians  raised  their 
petition,  without  a  shadow  of  doubt  that  what 
they  asked  they  should  receive. 

"And  their  prayer  was  answered.  In  less 
than  two  years,  Mr.  Clough  returned  with  the 
last  dollar  of  the  needed  fifty  thousand  pledged  ; 
and  very  soon  four  new  missionaries  —  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, Mr.  Downie,  Mr.  Campbell,  and  Mr.  Drake 
—  were  at  work  in  the  Telugu  field.  Mr.  Wil- 
liams took  charge  of  the  seminary,  aided  by 
Rungiah,  —  'one  of  the  noblest  of  Christian 
men,  an  able  preacher,  pre-eminently  godly,  and 
with  a  model  family  ; '  and  two  others,  '  young 
men  of  superior  ability  and  sterling  piety ; '  and 
in  1876  reported  under  their  care  eighty  students, 
all  strong,  vigorous  men,  preparing  to  enter  the 
field,  and  work. 


368  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"At  Ongole  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Loughridge  are 
laying  the  foundations  of  a  Telugu  college,  and 
Mrs.  Clough  has  charge  of  a  normal  school 
sustained  by  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society, 
numbering  fifty-nine  scholars. 

"During  the  past  year  a  fearful  famine  has 
prevailed  through  Southern  India.  Everywhere, 
as  they  go  forth  to  preach,  the  missionaries  hear 
the  cries  of  the  starving ;  and  much  of  their  time 
has  been  given  to  obtaining  relief.  But  neither 
famine,  nor  its  attendant  pestilence,  has  been 
able  to  stay  the  work.  Within  a  year,  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-four  have  been  baptized ; 
and  the  entire  membership  of  the  Telugu 
churches  is  now  4,394. 

"  '  What  a  glorious  wedding  was  that  which 
was  the  stepping-stone  to  your  coming  to  us  in 
all  the  desolation  of  heathenism  ! '  said  Julia  re- 
cently, on  the  occasion  of  the  silver  wedding  of 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Jewett.  '  You  gave  us  the  bloom 
of  your  youth,  and  now  a  light  has  been  kindled 
which  is  spreading  in  all  the  country  around.' " 

"  I  wonder  if  there  won't  be  an  opening  for  a 
doctor  there  in  a  few  years,"  said  Walter. 

"  No  doubt  of  it,"  said  Katie.  "  I  imagine  they 
would  want  him  to  preach  while  he  was  practis- 
ing, though." 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  369 

"That  of  course,"  Walter  replied.  "He 
couldn't  help  it." 

Mrs.  Bancroft  waited  to  hear  more  ;  but  noth- 
ing more  was  said.  Katie  took  a  hand  of  each 
of  the  younger  children,  and  led  them  up  stairs, 
while  happy  tears  dropped  upon  their  clothing 
as  she  put  them  to  bed.  Grandpa  Sears,  with 
quick  instinct,  followed  her  out  of  the  room, 
placing  one  hand  on  Walter's  head  as  he  passed. 
Clarence  twisted  a  folded  paper  that  he  had  held 
in  his  hand  through  the  evening. 

"  Here's  something  I  meant  to  have  handed 
you  before,"  he  said,  seeming  not  to  hear  Wal- 
ter's words,  —  "a  mathematical  problem;  your 
hobby,  you  know."  As  he  passed  Walter,  he 
dropped  the  paper  into  his  lap ;  then,  opening 
the  door,  "  It's  a  splendid  evening  for  a  walk, 
Charlie ; "  and  Charlie,  glad  to  take  the  remark 
as  an  invitation,  accompanied  him,  leaving  Wal- 
ter alone  with  his  mother. 

"  I  sometimes  think,  that,  at  the  best,  we  only 
help  God,  as  Minnie  helps  you,  by  catching  hold 
of  the  broom  while  you  are  sweeping,"  he  said. 

"  But  I  am  glad  to  know  she  wants  to  help  ; 
and,  if  there  were  no  children  to  catch  hold  of 
brooms  now,  there  would  be  no  grown  people  to 


370  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

use  them  by  and  by.  So  she  does  help  me,  after 
all,  unless  I  am  very  busy." 

"  And  God  is  never  very  busy,  —  never  too 
busy  to  train  bunglers.  There  is  comfort  in 
that,"  said  Walter. 

And  then  he  told  how,  one  week  before,  he 
had  settled  the  great  question  of  life. 

"And  it  is  within  that  time  that  you  have 
thought  of  being  a  missionary.  Have  you  not 
decided  hastily  ? "  said  Mrs.  Bancroft  after  the 
first  joyful  half-hour  had  passed. 

"  No  :  it  was  long  before  then,  —  as  long  ago 
as  when  you  told  us  about  Judson  and  Price.  I 
wanted  to  fill  Price's  place,  only  not  to  die  so 
soon  :  I  don't  think  martyrs  are  what  is  most 
needed  now.  That  is  what  made  me  think  of 
studying  medicine." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  became  a  Christian 
because  you  wanted  to  be  a  missionary  ?  "  asked 
Mrs.  Bancroft.  This  inverted  order  of  experi- 
ence puzzled  her. 

"  Yes  :  it  seemed  the  only  work  worth  doing, 
and  the  thought  that  I  wasn't  fit  for  it  haunted 
me.  I  never  wanted  to  do  any  thing  before  that 
I  didn't  think  I  could  fit  myself  for,  if  I  tried  ; 
but  this  I  couldn't.  And  then  I  saw  there  wasn't 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  371 

anything  I  was  fitted  for, — anything  I'd  be 
satisfied  to  keep  on  doing  forever,  I  mean.  But 
I  am  satisfied  now." 

And  so  was  Mrs.  Bancroft.  She  rested  her 
hand  on  his  shoulder  as,  when  he  was  smaller, 
she  used  to  put  it  on  his  head,  but  said  nothing. 

"  It's  a  long  time  ahead,  and  I  can't  tell  what 
may  happen.  Maybe  I  shall  find  out  it  isn't 
my  work,  after  all,  as  Katie  thinks  she  has.  In 
that  case  I'll  stay  at  home  and  try  to  make  money 
enough  to  hire  a  substitute  at  least.  But  I  mean 
to  keep  where,  if  God  should  call  me  into  the 
midst  of  the  work,  I  could  hear,  and  go  without 
stopping  to  get  ready.  I  think  every  one  ought 
to  do  that." 

Perhaps,  with  Mrs.  Bancroft's  thankfulness 
that  Walter  was  ready,  there  was  a  little  joy 
that  so  many  years  must  pass  first ;  a  hope,  that, 
instead  of  calling  him  to  heathen  lands,  God 
would  intrust  to  him  the  easier  work  of  supply- 
ing the  needed  funds  ;  for,  after  all,  she  was  a 
mother. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

TO-DAY. 

ATIE  was  joyfully  counting  over  her 
disappointments.  She  had  hoped  to  fit 
herself  for  a  missionary :  instead,  she 
had  discovered  her  own  unfitness,  and  found  her 
true  work.  She  had  hoped  that  she  might  teach 
Walter  not  to  watch  her,  taking  her  life  as  a  test 
of  the  power  of  Christianity :  instead,  he  had 
watched  her  more  closely  than  ever  ;  but  he  had 
become  a  Christian.  She  hoped,  when  grandpa 
Sears  came,  that  his  stay  might  be  short :  he 
was  to  spend  his  life  with  them ;  but  her  only 
trouble  now  was,  that  that  life  must  be  so  short. 
She  had  hoped,  that,  since  Ida  had  no  good  words, 
for  foreign  missions,  she  might  become  content 
to  say  nothing  about  them :  Ida  was  fitting  for 
the  work  of  a  foreign  missionary.  She  had 
hoped  to  see  the  conversion  of  her  class :  they 
372 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  373 

were  all  scattered,  and  their  places  filled  by  new 
ones  ;  but  their  letters  told  her  they  had  joined 
other  classes,  and  some  had  been  led  by  other 
hands  to  Christ.  She  had  hoped  and  prayed 
and  planned  for  the  success  of  her  missionary 
sewing-circle  :  it  had  sunk  in  the  preparation  for 
the  fair ;  but  the  sisters  of  the  church,  quickened 
by  her  evident  disappointment,  had  organized  a 
branch  Woman's  Missionary  Society,  and  elect- 
ed her  secretary,  and  the  contributions  of  the 
church  were  doubled. 

"  There  isn't  much  use  in  our  planning  our 
work ;  the  thing  is  to  be  willing  to  do  it,"  said 
Katie. 

"  Is  that  so  ? " 

In  the  darkness,  Katie  had  imagined  herself 
alone  ;  but  Walter  had  been  on  the  sofa  all  the 
time,  planning  out  his  work. 

"  I  have  found  it  so,"  said  Katie. 

"  Then  I  don't  know  but  I  may  as  well  profit 
by  your  experience.  I  was  planning  how  I 
could  convince  the  world,  particularly  the  small 
part  of  it  called  Clarence  Merriam,  that  a  man 
can  be  a  missionary  without  being  a  fool." 

"  Is  it  very  important  that  he  should  be  con- 
vinced ? "  asked  Katie. 


374  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

The  lamps  were  lighted,  and  in  a  moment 
Clarence  came  in.  He  was  hardly  seated  with 
Walter  and  Katie  before  he  commenced  :  — 

"  It  is  a  melancholy  fact,  that  though  missions 
have  been  in  existence  for  a  century,  and  Chris- 
tianity for  nineteen  centuries,  not  more  than 
one-fourth  of  the  world  is  Christian,  and,  of 
those,  three-fourths  are  not  Protestant." 

Walter  made  no  reply. 

"  You  have  given  up  your  wild  project  of  the 
other  evening  ? " 

"  What  would  you  advise  me,  then  ?  What 
shall  you  do  ? "  asked  Walter.  This  was  coming  to 
the  point  much  sooner  than  Clarence  expected. 

"  I  think  I  shall  accept  my  uncle's  offer,  and 
engage  in  his  cutlery,  —  book-keeper  now,  and 
agent  by  and  by." 

"  It  is  a  melancholy  fact,"  remarked  Walter 
gravely,  "that  though  cutlery  has  been  in  use 
more  than  nineteen  centuries,  and  forks  for  at 
least  three,  three-fourths  of  the  world  go  without 
them,  and,  of  the  remainder,  not  one-fourth  use 
silver  ones." 

"  But  the  aim  of  missions  is  to  do  good,  and 
of  cutleries  to  make  money :  there  is  the  differ- 
ence." 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  375 

"  If  your  aim  is  only  to  make  money,  I  would 
rather  work  at  mine  all  my  life  and  fail  at  last, 
than  at  yours  and  succeed." 

"  I  did  not  mean  that.  Through  money  I  can 
educate  the  ignorant,  rescue  the  drunkard,  suc- 
cor the  poor,  reform  the  immoral,  and  relieve  the 
suffering.  I  call  those  worthy  objects,  and  there 
are  organized  channels  for  them." 

"  But  people  have  been  doing  all  those  things 
for  much  more  than  a  century,"  interposed  Ka- 
tie ;  "  and  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  ignorant 
are  still  uneducated,  the  poor  unsuccored,  the 
immoral  unreformed,  and  the  suffering  unre- 
lieved. Every  thing  worth  doing  has  to  be  done 
slowly.  The  things  that  can  be  done  in  one  life- 
time generally  perish  in  another." 

"  I,  too,  believe  in  working  for  immortality," 
said  Clarence  ;  "  but  I  think  I  can  find  a  more 
practical  way  of  doing  it.  I  do  not  believe  in 
spending  four  dollars  to  get  one  to  the  heathen." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  the  managers  of  our  mis- 
sionary societies  are  dishonest  or  extravagant  ? " 

"  Neither :  I  only  mean,  that,  for  every  four 
dollars  given  to  missions,  the  heathen  get  not 
more  than  one  dollar's  worth  of  any  thing  worth 
having." 


376  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

"  Education  is  a  commodity  that  has  a  market- 
value  in  America,  I  believe.  In  1871  the  pupils 
in  mission  schools  of  various  denominations 
numbered  360,189.*  In  Massachusetts  we  spent 
that  year  for  public-school  education  $12.10  per 
child.2  At  that  rate,  the  education  of  those 
heathen  children  would  cost  $4,358,286:  from 
which  I  infer,  that  at  least  so  much  of  the 
$5,232,716  given  to  missions  'goes  to  the  hea- 
then ; '  at  least  four  dollars  out  of  five." 

"A  part  of  the  expense  of  these  schools 
is  borne  by  the  native  Christians,  is  it 
not?" 

"  Yes  ;  but  if,  as  a  result  of  missions,  the 
money  that  would  have  gone  for  arrack  and 
opium  goes  for  schools  ;  if  natives  are  willing  to 
pay  for  schooling,  instead  of  being  hired  to  send 
their  children,  as  was  done  in  the  earlier  days  of 
missions,  —  the  benefit  conferred  is  at  least  as 
great  as  if  we  supported  the  schools  entirely. 
Remember,  too,  that  the  stimulus  to  thought, 
which,  according  to  Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  mis- 
sions have  given,  has  sent  hundreds  to  other 

1  Statistical  tables  in  Land  of  the  Veda,  taken  from  reports   of 
various  societies  for  1871. 

2  Report  of  Board  of  Education,  1872. 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  377 

than  mission  schools,  and  that  the  idolatry  sup- 
planted cost  something."  l 

"  Yes,"  interposed  Kate.  "  Mr.  Douglass  says, 
that  in  Bassein,  for  every  dollar  spent  on  dwell- 
ing-houses, markets,  and  buildings  of  real  use, 
one  hundred  dollars  are  spent  on  pagodas,  gods, 
and  kyoungs.  I  fear  it  will  be  a  long  time 
before  you  will  be  able  to  complain  of  any  such 
extravagance  as  that  among  the  friends  of  mis- 
sions." 

"  Still,"  said  Clarence,  entirely  ignoring  Ka- 
tie's remark,  "the  object  of  missions  is  to  save 
souls,  not  to  educate  children :  and  it  is  a  fact, 
that  every  convert  actually  gained  from  heathen- 
ism thus  far,  even  if  we  include  the  West-In- 
dians as  heathen,  has  cost  $270 ;  while  in  the 
harder  countries,  like  Siam,  they  have  cost 
$1,000  apiece." 

"  I  gravely  suspect  that,  if  you  count  every 
thing,  every  orphan  rescued  by  our  asylums  has 
cost  more  than  $270 ;  and  I  know,  that,  on  an 
average,  every  drunkard  reformed  or  lost  one 

1  Some  missions  schools  receive  grants  in  aid  from  the  British 
Government.  On  the  other  hand,  should  we  count  in  the  cost  of  pri- 
vate schools,  endowed  academies,  normal  schools,  and  new  buildings, 
in  Massachusetts,  which  is  necessary  to  a  fair  comparison,  it  would 
fully  double  our  estimate  of  the  cost  of  education  here. 


378  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

really  saved  in  our  '  Homes,'  every  student 
educated  in  our  colleges,  every  sick  man  cured 
at  our  hospitals,  every  rogue  made  honest  by  our 
reform  schools,  costs,  on  an  average,  more  than 
that,"  said  Katie.  "  But  if  you  are  consistent  in 
your  economy,  and  give  up  all  these,  I  fancy  we 
shall  have  a  state  of  things  you  will  not  much 
like." 

"  It  would  be  a  melancholy  fact,"  said  Walter, 
"  if  the  conversion  of  a  soul  cost  as  much  as  a 
really  elegant  silk  dress  or  a  horse  ;  but,  even 
then,  I  think  there  are  members  of  our  churches 
who  could  indulge  in  the  luxury  occasionally. 
Happily,  however,  the  expenses  of  the  Mission- 
ary Union,  under  which  I  shall  enlist  if  I  go,  for 
five  years  in  which  I  have  estimated  them,  includ- 
ing every  thing,  from  a  theological  seminary 
to  a  postage-stamp,  were  but  $1,011,518;  and 
the  number  baptized,  20,680,  averaging  $49  ex- 
pense to  each  convert."  * 

"That  includes  some  converts  in  European 
countries,  does  it  not  ?  India  is  this  true  test  of 
the  success  of  missions." 

"The   average    expense    in    India,   including 

l  Reports  1868-1872  inclusive. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE*  379 

Burmah,  was  $74  to  each  convert;1  and  this 
includes  $10,000  for  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Rangoon,  and  $13,000  for  the  printing-office 
and  grounds  there." 

"  Those  must  have  been  remarkable  years." 

"  Not  at  all.  There  were  no  marked  revivals, 
except  that  among  the  Telugus.  I  think  the 
statement  for  the  past  five  years  would  be  even 
more  favorable." 

"  Then  you  dispute  my  figures/' 

"  No :  I  think  them  fair.  For  the  first  dozen 
years,  either  in  the  Bengal  or  Burman  mission, 
the  expenses  were  much  more  than  $1,000  to 
each  convert :  I  dare  say  that  in  both  countries 
the  average,  including  those  years,  and  counting 
every  thing  spent  on  education  as  spent  on  mis- 
sions, has  been  fully  $270.  There  may  be  socie- 
ties, especially  where  a  very  successful  mission 
has  graduated  into  independence,  and  a  new  and 
difficult  one  taken  its  place,  whose  average  is 
greater  than  that  now.  Our  Telugu  and  Chinese 
missions  were  founded  nearly  together.2  For 
the  twenty  years  prior  to  1869,  tne  expense  of 

1  Charging  those  missions  with  the  same  proportion  of  the  expense 
for  officers,  agents,  &c.,  as  they  share  in  the  special  missionary  appro- 
priations of  the  society. 

-  Beginning  with  the  Chinese  of  Siam. 


380  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

the  Telugu  mission  averaged  more  than  $460 
to  a  convert.  Since  then,  the  average  cost  has 
been  $25.  How  soon  we  shall  see  a  like  sud- 
den reduction  in  the  Chinese  mission,  no  man 
can  tell ;  but,  for  the  past,  your  estimate  may  be 
none  too  high." 

"  And  you  think  it  pays  ? " 

"  Certainly,  if  any  thing  does.  The  begin- 
nings of  all  enterprises  are  costly.  If  you  should 
count  in  all  the  money  spent  in  machinery  and 
fruitless  experiments,  you  would  find  the  first 
dozen  sewing-machines,  or  any  thing  else  worth 
having,  cost  more  than  $10,000  each.  It  does 
not  follow  that  I  shall  not  buy  one  at  the  present 
market-price,  or  that  the  thousands  spent  at  the 
outset  were  not  well  spent." 

"  Still,"  said  Clarence,  "  if  more  souls  can  be 
saved  with  the  same  money  in  other  ways,  I 
should,  if  a  Christian,  adopt  those  ways.  The 
converts  of  home  missions  cost  less  than  $50 
each,  while  yours  from  heathenism  cost  $79."  1 

"Add   to   the  expenditures  of  home-mission 

1  In  estimating  the  future  progress  of  missions  by  the  past,  con- 
verts who  have  died  are,  of  course,  deducted :  but,  in  estimating  the 
average  expense  to  each  convert,  there  is  no  propriety  in  this  ;  certainly 
not  if  it  is  done  for  the  sake  of  a  comparison  with  home  missions,  and 
a  like  deduction  is  not  made  there. 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  381 

societies  those  of  our  education  societies,  and 
to  that  the  endowment  of  theological  seminaries, 
the  cost  of  half  the  literature  (religious  and 
secular)  used  in  its  field,  of  common,  high,  and 
boarding  schools,  in  good  part  of  orphan-asylums 
and  other  charitable  institutions,  then  take  away 
from  their  field  the  thousand  indirect  Christian- 
izing influences,  require  them,  like  foreign  mis- 
sions, to  create  the  conditions  of  success,  and 
see  on  which  side  the  balance  would  be." 
"  Then  you  would  give  up  home  missions  ? " 
"  Never  !  They  are  the  true  feeders  of  foreign 
missions.  But  it  does  not  follow,  that,  because 
the  parent  supports  the  child,  the  child  must  be 
allowed  to  starve  until  the  parent  has  eaten  all 
that  he  possibly  can.  All  I  claim  is,  that,  as 
compared  with  other  benevolent  enterprises, 
foreign  missions  are  cheap ;  as  compared  with 
smoking,  or  fast  horses,  or  following  the  fash- 
ions, they  are  extremely  cheap ;  but,  taking  into 
account  the  eternity  that  lies  before  every  soul, 
they  are  cheap  beyond  all  possibility  of  compari- 
son." 

A  brief  pause,  and  Clarence  remarked,  "  You 
have  studied  my  problem  evidently :  have  you 
solved  it  ? " 


382  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  No." 

"  Have  you  it  with  you  ? " 

Walter  unfolded  the  paper  Clarence  had 
dropped  in  his  lap  on  the  last  missionary  even- 
ing. 

"  Read  it,  please." 

Walter  read,  "  In  1859  there  were  in  the  world 
215,000  converts  from  heathenism,  connected 
with  forty-seven  societies,  whose  period  of  labor 
has  averaged  thirty-nine  years  each.  Dividing 
215,000  by  39,  we  find  the  average  annual  gain 
of  converts  has  been  5,538.  The  average  an- 
nual expenditure  has  been  about  $1,500,000. 
The  present  annual  expenditure  is  $5,000,000. 
At  that  rate,  the  annual  increase  would  be  18,- 
460.  Supposing  that  the  present  rate  of  ex- 
penditure should  continue,  how  long  would  it 
take  to  convert  the  725,000,000  of  the  heathen 
world  ? " 

Walter  read  without  comment. 

"  According  to  my  reckoning,"  said  Clarence, 
"  or  rather  that  of  '  The  Index,'  —  for  I  am  in- 
debted to  it  for  my  figures,  —  it  would  take  39,273 
years." 

"  Perhaps  so.  I  have  never  learned  to  find 
the  last  term  of  a  series  in  geometrical  progres- 
sion by  addition." 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  383 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

"  I  mean  that  your  calculation  is  based  upon 
a  supposition  absolutely  unsupportable,  —  that 
contributions  will  remain  the  same,  and  converts 
increase  at  a  fixed  average  rate ;  a  thing  which 
never  has  been,  and  never  can  be.  Every  true 
convert  is  a  multiplier.  Every  converted  com- 
munity is  a  missionary  force.  During  the  first 
ten  years  after  Carey  landed  in  India,  the  aver- 
age net  gain  of  converts  was  two  and  a  half  per 
annum  ;  during  the  last  ten,  2, 1 1 7.  We  should 
come  nearer  the  truth  if  we  say,  that,  on  an 
average,  the  number  of  converts  from  heathen 
nations  throughout  the  world  has  doubled  every 
fifteen  years ;  and,  if  it  continues  to  do  this,  the 
year  2100  will  open  upon  a  converted  world." 

"  Your  arithmetic  has  run  mad  ;  you'd  better 
muzzle  it,"  said  Clarence. 

"  It  has  been  exposed  to  a  bite  from  yours,  I 
acknowledge.  .  I  do  not  think  my  estimate  a 
basis  for  certain  prophecy  ;  though  I  do  not  be- 
lieve you  can  find  fifteen  years  in  which  the 
number  of  converts  from  heathenism  has  not 
doubled.  I  do  not  really  expect  the  time  will 
come  when  every  individual  in  Heathendom, 
from  an  hour  old  upwards,  will  be  a  Protestant 


384  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

church-member ;  which  is  what  your  question  de- 
mands. Remember,  on  the  other  hand,  that  an 
immense  work  of  undermining  has  been  done, 
not  yet  shown  in  numerical  tables  ;  that  now 
there  is  a  nominal  Christian  population  in  hea- 
then lands  nearly  three  times  as  great  as  the 
number  of  communicants  ;  that,  when  the  pro- 
portion of  Protestant  church-members  to  the 
population  is  as  great  as  in  America,  —  one  in 
seven,  —  the  work  of  foreign  missions  will  be 
over ;  that,  before  that  time,  events  may  happen, 
—  like  the  revolution  in  Madagascar,  the  volun- 
tary opening  of  Japan,  the  evangelizing  of  the 
Catholic  Church  from  within  itself,  the  prevalence 
among  the  Hindoos  of  societies  hostile  to  caste, 
the  discovery  of  new  tribes  and  eligible  locations 
in  Africa,  —  which  will  do  in  an  hour  the  work 
that  years  have  been  waiting  for ;  that,  in  fact, 
you  might  as  well  estimate  the  time  it  will  take 
to  go  through  Hoosac  Mountain  ten  years  hence 
by  the  time  it  took  to  bore  through  it  at  first 
as  estimate  the  future  progress  of  missions  by 
the  past  or  present  progress.  The  sum  of  the 
whole  matter  is  this."  Walter  read  now  from 
notes  which  he  had  been  pencilling  down  during 
the  conversation :  — 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  385 

"  Missions  do  not  go  forward  at  a  fixed,  but 
at  a  constantly  agumented,  rate  of  increase. 
The  reasons  of  this  are, — 

"  i.  The  increasing  number  of  converts,  and 
therefore  of  contributions,  in  Christian  lands. 

"  2.  The  increase  of  wealth  in  our  country, 
shared  in  by  the  Church. 

"  3.  The  increase  in  general  information  and 
missionary  zeal. 

"  4.  The  gradual  undermining  of  confidence  in 
idolatry  among  the  heathen,  which  has  been  the 
main  work  of  many  societies  in  the  past,  but  tells 
upon  numerical  tables  only  in  the  future. 

"  5.  The  removal  of  obstructions,  such  as  the 
opposition  of  the  East-India  Company,  the  aver- 
sion to  foreigners  in  China  and  Japan,  the  perse- 
cuting spirit  of  several  heathen  courts,  the  Afri- 
can slave-trade. 

"6.  Increased  facilities  for  travelling  in  hea- 
then lands,  and  communicating  with  their  inhab- 
itants through  the  press,  enabling  the  mission- 
ary to  do  the  work  of  many  years  in  one. 

"7.  Increased  knowledge  of  the  geography, 
history,  and  religions  of  heathen  nations. 

"  8.  Improved  methods  of  missionary  labor. 

"  9.  The  fact  that  every  true  convert  from  hea- 


386  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

thenism  is  a  contributor,  to  some  extent,  both  in 
money  and  work. 

"  Many  of  these  causes  have  but  just  begun  to 
operate.  Most  of  them  are  sure  to  operate  more 
powerfully  in  the  future  than  in  the  past.  If 
they  do,  the  child  may  be  born  in  this  century 
who  shall  live  to  see  Christianity  triumphant  in 
India.  But,  if  I  believed  the  world  would  never 
be  converted,  I  would  still  give  to  missions  as  I 
would  to  other  works  which  I  never  expect  to 
see  finished,  and  believe  it  the  most  economical 
investment  I  could  make." 

"  I  am  delighted  to  find  such  a  serene  hope- 
fulness," said  Clarence.  "  The  only  pity  is,  that 
it  has  no  firmer  foundation  in  reason."  As  this 
argument  was  unanswerable,  both  boys  were  glad 
of  the  entrance  of  Mrs.  Bancroft ;  but,  before  she 
began  her  history,  grandpa  Sears  interposed  a 
word. 

"  Your  figures  are  all  right,  Walter,  and  your 
conclusions  may  be.  Perhaps  God  means  to 
move  his  troops  straight  on  to  victory ;  but  I 
doubt  it.  His  cause  always  has-  rolled  on,  not 
shot  forward  like  an  arrow.  And  always  some 
spokes  in  the  wheel  have  been  up,  and  some  down ; 
some  going  backward,  and  some  going  forward : 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  387 

and  those  that  were  going  up  and  forward  have 
thought  every  thing  was  going  in  a  bee-line  to  the 
goal ;  and  those  that  were  going  backward  have 
thought  every  thing  was  going  backward,  and  the 
world  to  destruction.  It  has  been  first  the  con- 
version of  the  empire,  then  Popery;  first  the 
Reformation,  then  apostasy ;  first  Cromwell, 
then  Charles  II. ;  first  Edwards  and .  Whitefield 
and  the  great  revival,  then  wide-spread  defection 
and  French  infidelity.  It  needn't  be  so  ;  but  it 
it  has  been  so.  Missions  have  had  no  great  set 
back  yet ;  but  I'm  afraid.  There  are  hours, 
when,  if  we  put  our  hands  firm  to  the  wheel, 
years  can  do  the  work  of  centuries  ;  and,  if  we 
don't,  it  rolls  back,  and  the  work  of  years  or  cen- 
turies must  be  slowly  done  over  again.  And  I 
think  this  is  such  an  hour.  More  men  must  be 
had  in  Burmah  ;  and  somewhere  among  our  re- 
cent graduates  there  are  ten  men  whom  God 
calls  to  that  field  :  but  I'm  afraid — because  I  am 
old  and  timid,  maybe  —  that  all  our  graduates 
haven't  honestly  asked, '  Is  it  I  ? '  And  there  are 
the  Telugus :  either  expenses  must  be  increased 
to  meet  converts,  or  converts  diminished  to  meet 
expenses  among'  them ;  and  we  must  decide 
which.  Somewhere  in  our  land  there  are  a  thou- 


388  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

sand  purses,  that  have  yielded  five  dollars  annu- 
ally to  our  missions,  that  are  called  —  just  as 
really  called  of  God  as  Samuel  was  —  to  decide 
it  by  opening  wider,  and  yielding  ten  or  fifteen  ; 
but  I'm  afraid  there  are  members  in  our  churches 
who  are  not  seriously  asking,  '  Is  mine  one  ? ' 
and,  if  they  should  find  it  was,  wouldn't  thank 
God  for  the  discovery.  And  there  are  at  least 
five  thousand  mothers  whom  God  calls  to  train 
up  their  boys  to  think  about  missions,  and  be 
ready  to  go,  if  God  calls  them,  as  you  are,  Wal- 
ter ;  but  I  am  afraid  some  of  them  are  not  doing 
it.  And  the  only  way  to  insure  that  the  whole 
amount  of  missionary  energy  shall  double  in  the 
next  fifteen  years  is  for  everybody  to  see  to  it 
that  his  own  does." 

"Had  I  closed  the  story  two  months  ago," 
said  Mrs.  Bancroft,  "  it  would  have  been  in  the 
same  strain  in  which  grandfather  has  just 
spoken  ;  "  but  when,  at  the  May  anniversaries 
this  year,  I  saw  the  people  in  the  pews  take  up 
the  debt  of  forty-seven  thousand  dollars  which 
has  been  accumulating  for  the  past  eleven  years, 
and  of  their  own  accord,  with  quiet  obstinacy, 
hold  the  meeting  in  session  against  the  will  of 
its  managers,  till  the  greater  part  of  the  moun- 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  389 

tain  was  removed,  and  as  I  have  since  watched 
them  patiently  following  up  their  work  till  the 
Missionary  Union  stands  free,  I  have  thanked 
God,  not  for  the  raising  of  the  debt,  but  for  the 
sure  dawning  of  the  day  when  the  truth  shall  be 
universally  received,  that  the  work  of  missions  is 
the  business,  not  of  a  board  or  a  society,  but  of 
every  separate  church-member. 

"  Let  us,  then,  give  a  glance  this  evening  at 
the  work  done  and  the  work  before  us.  We 
have  seen  that  the  India  of  to-day  is  not  the 
India  we  visited  with  Carey  in  1793.  Then  a 
letter  twelve  months  old  from  England  was  new : 
now  steam  has  brought  London  within  thirty 
days  of  Calcutta,  and  the  telegraph  has  reduced 
the  distance  to  minutes.  Then  clumsy  boats,  the 
ox-cart,  the  palanquin,  and  the  pony  were  the 
only  aids  to  travel :  now  the  railroads  of  India 
carry  annually  sixteen  million  passengers,  her 
sacred  Ganges  is  ploughed  by  government  steam- 
ers, while  twelve  thousand  miles  of  wire  carry 
messages  for  her  people.  Then  the  whole  inte- 
rior was  sealed,  and  its  roads  almost  impassable  : 
now  it  is  all  open,  and  surveyors  are  everywhere. 
Then  no  native  thought  of  learning  English  : 
now  it  is  hardly  a  barrier  to  an  American  pro- 


390  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

fessor,  going  among  the  educated  classes  there, 
that  he  speaks  English  only,  while  in  the  count- 
ing-houses of  every  large  city  may  be  found 
hundreds  who  read  the  language  readily.  Then 
a  whisper  against  sacred  customs  through  the 
mission  press  sent  a  panic  through  India  and 
England :  now  changes  more  radical  than  the 
early  missionaries  dared  dream  are  discussed 
weekly  in  native  newspapers.  Then  children 
must  be  hired  to  attend  Christian  schools  :  now 
stanch  Hindoos  contribute  to  the  support  of 
these  schools.  Then,  if  natives  could  be  induced 
to  take  Christian  books  as  a  gift,  the  missionary 
rejoiced  in  his  success  :  books  are  sold  now. 
Then  the  education  of  women  was  looked  upon 
with  terror  or  utter  contempt :  to-day  the  edu- 
cation of  the  girls  of  India  receives  more  atten- 
tion than  did  that  of  the  boys  thirty  years  ago, 
in  Calcutta  between  seven  and  eight  hundred 
women  are  regularly  taught  in  their  zenanas  by 
the  ladies  of  the  Union  Woman's  Missionary 
Society,  and  many  a  young  Brahman  secretly 
imparts  to  his  wife  daily  what  he  learns  at  the 
schools.  Then  no  money  could  hire  a  respecta- 
ble Hindoo  to  touch  a  dead  body :  now  Brah- 
mans  in  the  medical  schools  practise  dissection 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  391 

without  a  scruple.  Then  the  Kulin  Brahman 
honored  his  fathers-in-law  by  permitting  them  to 
support  him :  now  he  can  be  compelled  to  sup- 
port his  wives.  It  is  not  fifty  years  since  the 
high-caste  widow  of  India  coveted  the  funeral- 
pile  as  the  only  door  of  escape  from  a  fate 
infinitely  more  terrible :  now,  though  at  rare 
intervals,  we  hear  of  attempts  at  suttee ;  the 
intelligent  classes  look  back  upon  it  as  we  upon 
the  human  sacrifices  of  the  Druids.  It  is  not 
sixty  years  since  an  order  was  issued  by  the 
India  Government,  that  missionaries  '  must  not 
preach  to  natives,  nor  allow  native  converts  to 
do  so  : '  now  the  officers  of  government  and  the 
founders  of  the  Somaj  vie  with  each  other  in 
praise  of  the  work  done  by  missions. 

"  And  the  change  wrought,  or  working  rather, 
is  greater  even  than  these  outward  signs  indi- 
cate. It  is  no  mere  intellectual  satisfaction  that 
we  feel  when  we  find  Euclid,  Blackstone,  Cow- 
per,  J.  Stuart  Mill,  perhaps  with  the  skin  of 
the  sacred  cow  used  in  their  binding,  resting  on 
the  tables  of  cultivated  Brahmans,  for  by  this 
we  know  that  we  have  clasped  hands  with  our 
Eastern  cousins ;  that  for  the  India  of  to-day 
every  thing  is  possible.  Already,  in  vision,  we 


392  OUR   GOLD-MINE. 

see,  not  afar  off,  the  time  when  between  us  and 
them  '  there  shall  be  no  more  sea.'  There  could 
hardly  be  a  more  striking  illustration  of  this 
change,  which  is  the  prophecy  of  greater  change, 
than  a  little  incident  C.  C.  Coffin  relates  of  a 
sacred  Benares  bull  which  strayed  into  the  gar- 
den of  a  native  Christian.  The  Christian  split 
his  head  open.  An  angry  Brahman  dragged 
him  before  the  court. 

"  '  Whose  was  the  bull  ? '  asked  the  native 
judge. 

"'Siva's.' 

"  '  Then  let  Siva  appear  and  make  complaint.' 

" '  An  earthquake  cannot  shake  Benares  ;  for  it 
rests,  not  on  earth,  but  on  Siva's  trident:'  but 
the  hand  that  holds  the  trident  is  growing  un- 
steady ;  and,  if  it  fails,  what  will  become  of  Be- 
nares ?  Already  within  its  gates  are  six  hundred 
native  Christians. 

" '  I  question,'  says  Mrs.  Bronson,  returning 
to  Assam  through  Calcutta  after  fourteen  years' 
absence,  '  whether  in  any  country  in  the  world  so 
marvellous  and  so  radical  changes  in  the  very 
foundations  of  the  social  and  religious  life  of  a 
people  can  be  found  as  have  occurred  among  the 
Hindoo  population  of  British  India  during  the 
last  decade.' 


OUR  GOLD-MINE.  393 

"  Do  not  imagine  that  the  change  thus  work- 
ing is  already  wrought.  The  old  India  has  not 
passed  away,  though  a  new  India  is  contesting 
the  ground  with  it  inch  by  inch.  In  city  and  in 
jungle,  the  present  jostles  against  the  past.  The 
locomotive  shrieks  past  villages  built  in  the 
style  of  centuries  ago,  and  in  its  course  startles 
the  tiger  from  his  lair.  Cow-catchers  make  ir- 
reverent but  unmistakable  suggestions  to  sacred 
bulls,  and  easy  cushions  and  thirty  miles  an 
hour  mar  the  romance  as  well  as  the  hardships 
of  pilgrimage  ;  but  the  bulls  are  sacred  still, 
and  the  pilgrimages  are  made.  The  gods  are 
not  rejected  yet ;  though  the  time  when  men 
were  ready  to  fight  or  die,  or  even  to  kill  other 
people,  for  them,  is  past.  Even  now  we  need 
not  go  many  miles  from  any  of  the  large  cities 
to  find  the  wealthy  Sudra  dropping  his  offering 
into  the  brass  plate  of  the  Brahman  beggar  as 
humbly  and  reverently  as  though  the  dust  of 
past  centuries  had  never  been  stirred  by  the 
breath  of  the  nineteenth." 

"/$•  it  the  nineteenth  century,  the  railroad, 
the  telegraph,  and  the  government  schools,  that 
have  made  the  change  ?  or  do  you  claim  the  credit 
of  it  for  missions  ? "  asked  Clarence. 


394  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

"  Both,"  said  Mrs.  Bancroft.  "  The  question, 
so  much  discussed,  has  less  interest  to  no  one 
than  to  the  missionary.  Believing  fully  that 
the  work  of  missions  is  the  thing  God  meant 
when  he  made  the  world  ;  that  He  who  gave  him 
his  orders  holds  in  his  hand  all  the  forces,  moral, 
intellectual,  and  material,  of  the  universe.  —  he 
claims  the  first  right  to  the  use  of  them  all,  and 
cares  little  where  the  credit  is  given,  if  but  the 
work  be  done.  For  him  the  Suez  Canal  was 
dug  ;  for  him  the  railroad  and  the  telegraph, 
the  'photographer's  instruments,  and  the  electri- 
cal battery,  were  designed  by  God  long  before 
they  were  discovered  by  man ;  for  him  all  books 
are  written  ;  his  is  the  cause  for  which  the  whole 
world  is  working  to-day,  except  so  far  as  its  work 
is  doomed  to  certain  failure.  But,  in  deciding 
the  cause  of  the  great  change  that  has  come  over 
India,  you  must  not  forget  that  missionaries  in- 
troduced there  the  first  steam-engine,  the  first 
printing-press,  the  first  native  magazine  and 
newspapers,  the  first  girls'  school,  the  first  col- 
lege, the  first  of  a  hundred  other  elements  of 
civilization  ;  and  especially  must  you  remember 
that  to  the  hard  work  and  persistent  right  living 
of  the  missionaries  is  due  that  conversion  of  the 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  395 

English  Government  and  the  East-India  Com- 
pany without  which  these  changes  had  been 
almost  impossible. 

"  But,  after  all,  our  great  joy  is  in  the  spiritual 
conquests  of  these  eighty  years. 

"  If  the  change  in  British  Burmah  and  South- 
ern India  has  been  less  marked  than  in  Bengal, 
it  is  even  more  exclusively  the  result  of  Chris- 
tian influences. 

"  The  palace  of  Ava  is  a  ruin  ;  the  prison  of 
Oung-pen-la  is  overgrown  with  briers  and  cac- 
tuses ;  the  hopia-tree  at  Amherst  has  fallen ; 
the  dwellings,  the  zayats,  the  graves  even,  of  the 
earlier  missionaries,  are  hard  to  find  :  but  in  four- 
teen hundred  Burman  faces  lighted  with  the 
hope  of  immortality,  in  twenty  thousand  Karen 
and  Garo  hearts  lifted  to  God  in  prayer,  in  hun- 
dreds of  transformed  hamlets  from  which  more 
than  four  thousand  Telugu  converts  send  forth 
hymns  of  praise,  they  have  a  better  memorial. 

"  And  almost  anywhere  in  British  Burmah  you 
need  but  to  strike  the  shell  of  heathenism  to 
prove  that  it  is  but  a  shell,  though  a  very  strong 
one  still. 

"  '  Our  books  tell  nothing  of  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,'  thoughtfully  says  a  Bassein  Burman. 


396  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

" '  Guatama  is  dead,  and  cannot  help  us  ;  I 
want  to  know  what  Jesus  Christ  can  do,'  says 
another. 

" '  How  remarkable  it  is,'  says  an  aged  Buddh- 
ist Pwo,  near  Rangoon,  to  a  native  preacher, 
'  that  men  and  women  of  such  intelligence  as  the 
teacher  and  mamma  should  leave  their  country 
and  their  comfortable  houses,  and  come  among  us, 
who,  in  comparison,  live  like  pigs  ! — how  wonder- 
ful !  We  ought  to  run  and  beg  them  to  tell  us 
about  God,  instead  of  their  living  in  a  boat,  and 
enduring  hardships  in  going  about  to  tell  and  en- 
treat us.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  we 
do  not  become  Christians.'  Here  and  there,  as 
you  enter  a  Burman  house,  you  may  find  a  copy 
of  the  Acts  or  Digest  of  Scripture,  lying  open, 
ready  for  reading  when  the  master  of  the  house 
comes  in  ;  and  here  and  there  in  some  Karen 
church  you  will  find  a  steady,  earnest  Burman 
listener,  —  possibly  one  who  has  learned  Karen 
that  he  might  listen  to  Christian  preaching. 

"  These  are  not  Christians,  perhaps  will  never 
be  ;  for  they  fear  the  people  :  but,  when  the  mass 
of  the  Buddhists  are  brought  even  where  these 
stand,  there  will  be  no  people  to  fear,  and  the 
greatest  hindrance  will  be  removed.  This  steady 


OUR   GOLD-MINE.  397 

transfer  from  the  ranks  of  opposers  to  the  ranks 
of  those  who  fear  opposition  is  one  of  our  bright- 
est signs. 

"  And  even  now  it  is  not  sixty  years  since  Jud- 
son  was  laboring,  in  peril  of  death,  without  one 
inquirer ;  not  fifty  since  the  Karens  were  without 
school  or  written  language,  a  nation  of  drunk- 
ards ;  hardly  seventy  since  Carey  baptized  his 
first  convert. '  How  long  this  gradual,  I  cannot 
call  it  slow,  progress,  this  work  of  sapping  and 
mining,  shall  last,  I  do  not  know,  but  not  always. 
Some  time,  the  battle  shall  be  fought  which 
shall  be  to  India  what  Tours  was  to  Europe,  but 
not  with  material  weapons.  And  the  question 
for  every  Christian  is,  '  Shall  I  belong  to  the  ad- 
vance guard  of  Christ's  army,  or  be  a  straggler 
in  its  rear?' 

"  It  is  lack  of  Christianity  in  America,  not 
heathenism  in  Burmah,  that  now  prevents  the 
gospel  from  being  preached  in  every  town  from 
Bengal  Bay  to  China.  We  have  not  kept  pace 
with  God's  providences.  Our  liberality  has 
grown  ;  but  God's  work  has  grown  faster.  While 
thousands  of  miles  of  territory  are  open  to  us 
now,  that  were  hermetically  sealed  then  ;  while, 
all  over  the  mountains,  tribes  invite  us  that 


398  OUR  GOLD-MINE. 

then  would  have  received  us  on  spear-points ; 
while  peoples  then  unnamed  are  building  us 
chapels,  and  races  that  have  sullenly  withstood 
the  labor  of  years  are  begging  to  join  our  ranks 
as  laborers,  —  we  have  scarcely  more  than  kept 
the  ranks  of  our  laborers  filled  as  death  has 
thinned  them. 

"  Not  less  than  I  pity  the  heathen  do  I  pity 
the  men  whom  God  is  calling  to  help  them,  but 
who  will  not  hear  the  call ;  for,  notwithstanding 
our  slackness,  never  was  our  part  of  Christ's 
great  field  so  full  of  buds  of  promise  as  to-day." 

A  stray  breeze  sent  the  branches  of  the  apple- 
tree  against  the  window.  It  had  been  a  white 
sheet  of  blossoms  in  the  early  spring :  now 
the  ground  was  strewn  with  embryo  apples  ;  but 
on  the  tree  was  little  but  leaves. 

Grandpa  looked  at  it,  and  then  at  Walter. 
"  The  drought,  I  suppose,"  he  said. 

"  But  God  himself  waters  the  trees  of  his 
spiritual  orchard,"  answered  Walter :  "  so  there 
can  be  no  drought  there." 

"  God  gives  the  increase"  said  grandpa  ;  "  and 
Paul  has  planted,  I  suppose  ;  but  Apollos  must 
water" 


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